The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic has suggested drafting a bill that would regulate the delivery of goods to the north in order to safeguard the lives and health of people living there as well as to improve their living conditions.

“The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic believes it necessary to develop and adopt a bill on northern deliveries. This bill’s main goals are to safeguard the lives and health of people living in the northern areas as well as to improve their living conditions and form an integral system of state support measures for participants in the northern delivery,” Minister Alexei Chekunkov said at a meeting of the Council of Legislators’ Presidium at the Russian parliament.

The minister suggested consolidating provisions on the distribution of functions, tasks and responsibilities to organize guaranteed deliveries to the population at all government levels: federal, regional and local, as well as to organize monitoring.

“In addition to this, we propose including a specific list of regions in the bill to ensure the execution of northern deliveries, including in order to monitor the proper functioning of each participant,” Chekunkov said.

The head of the ministry suggested including in this bill the establishment and functioning of a federal system to monitor northern deliveries, including the monitoring of transportation and logistics, financial support, and the provision of the areas concerned with the necessary products, goods, and energy resources.

Chekunkov also noted that a prototype of the digital twin of the northern deliveries had already been created.

“The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was chosen as our pilot area. In January-February, the pilot system will be tested in Yakutia, which will make it possible to build the optimal delivery route to every village, determine the costs and volume, and if the test is successful the system will be extended to other Arctic regions of the Russian Federation and all the areas falling under the concept of northern deliveries throughout 2022,” Chekunkov said.

Previously Chekunkov announced that the ministry was developing a digital information system for northern deliveries, making it possible to improve logistics, increase the reliability of deliveries and the quality of life of those who live in the North. According to the minister, in the future, the digital twin will unite all participants in the northern deliveries into a single system: 25 regions, more than 300 ships, as well as cargo with a volume of more than 3 million tons per year.