An order from Sochi International Airport for a project of an underground shelter from bombs, missiles and radiation for 600 people appeared in public procurement. It is separately stipulated that 70 percent of them will be men and 30 percent women.
What is known about the bunker at Sochi airport
At the beginning of summer, JSC Sochi International Airport placed government procurement costing almost 40 million rubles to design the bunker in three hundred days.
In the technical specifications, the customer requests that the structure protect against a shock wave of 100 kPa, toxic, radioactive and bacterial agents, the explosion of conventional high-explosive munitions and penetrating radiation with an attenuation level of 1000.
Apparently, the shelter is not intended for passengers. The air harbor in Sochi is one of the ten largest airports in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism). By the end of 2022 The airport handled 6.4 million departures and 6.5 million arrivals. Since the start of the SVO in February 2022, it remains the only open air harbor in the Krasnodar Territory. First of all, the bunker must accommodate airport employees, or rather, one shift. As of January 1, 2023, Sochi International Airport JSC had 1,739 employees, and apparently most of them are men.
Preliminary, the site for the bunker has already been identified and it is possible that, as during the construction of facilities for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, some of the property owners may receive compensation. The technical specifications stipulate that if the facilities need to be dismantled, it will be necessary to prepare reports assessing the amount of compensation. According to the maps, the bunker will be located on a site where a car wash, tire shop, and used car showroom are currently located. Most likely, these facilities will be demolished.
Who is fighting for the project?
The battle for the development of the shelter project was serious. Six participants applied, many of whom requested clarification on the procurement materials. The lowest price – less than 33 million rubles – was offered by the Vyatskiye Polyany company “Proektstroyservis” and the Krasnodar firm “Kubanspetsproekt”, the highest – almost 40 million rubles – by the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Air Transport “Lenaeroproekt”.
In the end, they decided not to economize. At the end of July, the Institute “Lenaeroproekt” was chosen as the winner based on the criteria of experience and human resources.
The document must be signed by the chairman of the purchasing committee, the CEO of the Aerodinamika group of companies (manages airports in Sochi, Krasnodar and Anapa) Alexey Starostin.
“Lenaeroproekt” was founded under Nikita Khrushchev. The initial goal of the specialized research institute was to design, build, and operate airfields and airports in the Arctic and polar regions of the country. Now the enterprise operates throughout the country. Among its major projects are the development of the Pulkovo-1 and Pulkovo-2 terminals, the reconstruction of the airport in Sochi on the eve of the Olympic Games, and the design of a new airport in Yoshkar-Ola. In 2023, the institute's revenue amounted to 756 million rubles. The lion's share of it is made up of government orders for the maintenance and repair of airports throughout Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism).
Until 2021, Lenaeroproekt belonged to the state. Then it was sold at auction for 900 million rubles to the Moscow firm AO Krasko, which is associated with large Russian capital.
There is no information on the Lenaeroproekt website that this institute had previously developed bunkers. However, Life.ru found a similar government procurement in the Sverdlovsk region from 2014 — “Development of documentation for a civil defense protective structure project for 600 shelters at the Koltsovo airport in Yekaterinburg.” This was a contract for seven million rubles.