Since 2009 with the assistance of the central and local authorities NIBULON has been implementing its investment project to revive and develop infrastructure of the agrarian market and transport sector. One of the important technological components of the project in Mykolayiv region is to perform dredging to ensure navigation safety on the waterways of the Southern Bug River.
It is generally known that till 1991 the cargo carriage along the Southern Bug River was performed by the vessels of “559” project from Voznesensk town with capacity of up to 1500 tons and by barges with the draught of 2.10 m and capacity of 1400 tons.  What prevents us from implementing the potential of the Southern Bug River as transport waterway at present?
“The part of the Southern Bug River to be dredged is a wide valley with low swampy banks”, tells Alla Izmesteva, a head of the environmental protection department. “The river flows washing away the sand and chalkstone. Due to such conditions, urgency of dredging increases annually. Thus, according to the results of the agrochemical passport system of Mykolayiv region which was carried out by Mykolayiv branch of the State Organization “Soils Protection Institute of Ukraine”, Voznesenk district has a stable tendency of soil erosion and humus loss. Soil inwash will bring positive effect to Voznesensk district, namely bank protection and stabilization. Placing of bottom soils on swampy areas in Novoodesa and Mykolayiv regions will allow to raise the bank level contributing to bank reclamation. Totally, dredging will contribute to the improvement of hydrological, sanitary and environmental conditions: water flow will be increased, water stagnation and blooming will be reduced, drainage of the river will be revived to reduce underflooding of swampy areas. Dredging will reduce spring and rain floods, decrease muddiness of the river bottom”.
Can dredging be harmful to the environment? Alla Izmesteva explains that its impact is estimated in the course of the ecological examination taking into consideration that the impact is limited by place and time of dredging. The environmental conditions quickly come to their initial level upon dredging completion, “Certainly, the aquatic environment is influenced by dredging machinery, but in 4-6 hours upon dredging completion the water quality returns to its natural condition, and the influence on hydrobionts is compensated by the appropriate payments to be used to renovate fish resources in the Southern Bug River. Dredging of the operational waterway and water access will not be performed during spawning”.
According to the project, there will be organized 18 places for soil deposit which are located in the territories of Voznesensk, Novoodesa and Mykolayiv regions.
The main requirements for soil storage are not to place bottom soils in the areas that are valuable in terms of fishing industry and to influence on the development of bioresources as little as possible.
“In order to estimate bottom soils, as a possible source of the aquatic environment pollution, Mykolayiv branch of the State Organization “Soils Protection Institute of Ukraine”, the State Organization “O. M. Marzeev Institute for Hygiene and Medical Ecology, Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine” and NIBULON’s chemical and technological laboratory conducted researches to determine content of heavy metals, organochlorine pesticides, radiological pollution”, mentions Alla Izmesteva. “According to the reports, the soils are environmentally friendly; thus, their storage will not pollute the environment. Besides, the project also includes measures to exclude pollution of surface water by oil products. According to the State Organization “Soils Protection Institute of Ukraine”, bottom soils are suitable for perennial grass. Consequently, storage of bottom soils offshore can return some elements of nutrition to the pastures, ensuring growth and development of vegetation”.
During implementation of NIBULON’s project there will be carried out complex measures to preserve the environment, including to grass riverside disposals, to renovate forest plantations to the amount of more than UAH 40 thousand, to stabilize banks, to renovate fish resources in the Southern Bug River, etc.
“For 2012 the local budgets received more than UAH 250 thousand from NIBULON. The funds were directed to further renovation of fish resources. There was performed stocking of 30 tons of fish to the amount of UAH 13 thousand in Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, and Poltava regions”, stresses Andriy Volik, NIBULON’s deputy general director of marine safety. “Dredging is carried out on the basis of the developed projects inspected by the institutions of the State Organization “Ukrderzhekspertyza” and approved by the certified experts in construction sector, as well as experts on the ecological, sanitary and epidemiological well-being, labour protection, etc. Besides, in compliance with the Water Code of Ukraine (Article 86) the projects are approved by the state authorities of the environmental protection, water industry and geology”.
We would remind you that the unique investment project to revive and develop infrastructure of the agrarian market and transportation industry implemented by NIBULON since 2009  includes construction of cargo fleet and transportation infrastructure to store and transship grain (elevators and transshipment terminals), dredging of the limiting parts of waterways, reconstruction of locks. In summer 2013 President of Ukraine and Prime Minister of Ukraine approved the initiatives to revive the Dnipro and the Southern Bug Rivers as main transport waterways. In particular, on August 7, 2013, the appropriate order was given to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the State Agency for Investment and National Projects of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine to grant the national status to NIBULON’s investment project. The investment project was supported by the management of the Regional State Administrations of Kyiv, Poltava, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, and Mykolayiv.