Russian hydro plant labeled unsafe in 1998

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-22 16:21

Rescuers work in the debris of the damaged dam of Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station near the Siberian village of Cheryomushki, about 520 km (323 miles) south of Krasnoyarsk, August 20, 2009. [Agencies]

MOSCOW: Russian authorities were reportedly warned that Siberia's massive Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power plant had fallen into serious neglect and was unsafe in 1998, more than a decade before this week's deadly accident.

The death toll rose to 64 Saturday as rescuers continued draining the turbine room and recovered 17 more bodies. Eleven workers were still missing from Monday's accident.

For years, the Kremlin was urged by independent experts and even its own ministries to invest in infrastructure upgrades.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who toured the crippled Siberian power plant on Friday, has acknowledged that Russia must plan for the regular upgrade of "vital parts of infrastructure."

But Vladimir Tikhomirov, chief economist at the Moscow-based bank UralSib, says Russia has to spend big if it wants to reverse the neglect of the stagnant 1990s.

"It's about more than $100 (billion) to 200 billion if we're talking about all infrastructure, and you can't make it all in one year," he said Friday.

The latest statistics show that as little as 7.4 percent of all equipment in the power sector was replaced by 2007. Studies showed that half needed replacing and 15 percent was worn out beyond repair.

Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko has said it would cost 40 billion rubles ($1.2 billion) just to rebuild the damaged turbine room.

Putin on Friday urged the state-owned plant operator RusHydro to compensate the families of the dead at Sayano-Shushenskaya. RusHydro has already pledged to pay 1 million rubles ($31,300) to the families. Putin promised to match the company's payouts with federal money.

The Emergency Situations Ministry -- whose 1,000-strong search team kept up the search for those feared dead -- warned back in 1998 that the dam had fallen into dangerous neglect, according to a report by the business daily Kommersant.

The same ministry forecast in 2005 that decaying infrastructure would be the cause of most technological accidents in the coming years, saying more than 60 percent of Russia's water pipes, sewage, heating and electricity networks needed urgent replacement.

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