Berezniki is a large city in the north of the Perm Region, the
center of the chemical industry. Berezniki was built up mainly in
the 1930s and is not of great interest to the traveler.
Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to pass them on the way to
Usolye, moreover, it is very likely that you will have to spend the
night there. If you have a few hours of extra time, you can spend
them on exploring the old church, the Stalinist architecture of the
Berezniki center, and for the very amateurs there are houses with
cracks in the walls formed due to sinkholes, and industrial
landscapes. The latter, however, are visible in a certain amount
through the Kama from the Usolya.
Berezniki is a fairly old
industrial city, but it carefully hides its history. Settlements on
the left bank of the Kama River opposite Usolye have existed,
apparently, since the XVI century and were originally associated
with salt industries. One of them is the village of Zyryanka, where
the church of John the Baptist still stands, but threatens to
collapse, the oldest building of Berezniki (mid-XVIII century.) In
1883, Russia's first soda factory was built near the village. Its
appearance was preceded by the opening in 1879 of the railway from
Chusovoye — the second railway in the Urals (the first was the
Mining Plant line from Perm to Yekaterinburg, launched five years
earlier).
The village of the old soda factory, known as
"Little Belgium", could become a good city landmark, but now it is
hidden in an industrial area and practically inaccessible. The
official and at the same time no less romantic name of this village,
Birch Island, gave the name to the city, formed in 1932 from all the
surrounding villages and subsequently flooded by the Kama reservoir
of the county town of Dedyukhin. The construction of Berezniki was
associated with the development of an underground potash salt
deposit, but, unlike neighboring Solikamsk, the local industry is
not limited to salt extraction. Berezniki chemical plant, aptly
named by Paustovsky as the "Republic of chemistry", produces a wide
range of products, including substances unpleasant to the
environment such as ammonia and acids. The plant was one of the
major construction projects of the first five-year plans. Konstantin
Paustovsky was present at its launch, who described these events in
the story "The Giant on the Kama" ("Salt of the Earth"), and Varlam
Shalamov dedicated his anti-novel "Vishera" to the frightening
details of local camp life (prisoners' labor was actively used
during the construction of the combine).
The Berezniki
industry has an infernal appearance. Its negative effect on the
environment is not limited to harmful emissions into the atmosphere.
Mistakes in salt extraction have led to flooding of mines, which has
its unpleasant features here: water washes out salt from the rock,
which leads to sinkholes. The first failure occurred in 2007 and was
dubbed "Big Brother" by locals. Later, three other failures
appeared, the last of which, affectionately named "The Kid", finally
destroyed the railway station, which had previously been tried to
save. All attempts to eliminate the failures have failed, and the
further development of the situation remains unpredictable.
In Berezniki (in the western part of the city, between the center and
Kama) there are a huge number of industrial enterprises that create
interesting industrial landscapes. Apparently, there is no point in
looking for them specifically: it is enough to look around, for example,
on the way to Usolye or to St. John the Baptist Church.
1 St.
John the Baptist Church, 23 Kotovsky Street (You can only get there on
foot, along Lenin Avenue to its southern end (Reshetov Square), then to
the left along Maxim Gorky Street and further along the only open
passage). The church was built in 1757 with the Stroganovs' money in the
village of Zyryanka, where their salt mines were. The fisheries were
closed due to exhaustion in 1772, but the village remained (it was
located on the right bank of the Zyryanka River and separated from the
church by a pond), and in the 1930s became part of the city of
Berezniki. The church was built in the Baroque style typical for the
middle of the XVIII century. In 1933 it was closed, in 1991 it was
reopened, and in 2013 it was closed again due to an emergency condition
- cracks appeared associated with sinkholes in Berezniki. While the
church is standing and available for external inspection, but what will
happen next is not entirely clear.
2 Stalinist architecture.
Berezniki was originally built in the 1930s, and an integral ensemble of
Stalinist architecture has been preserved here, from constructivism (for
example, the Avangard cinema and the hospital on Demenev Street - go
around the main building on the right) to the outright Empire style. The
best samples are on Lenin Avenue and on Pyatiletka Street.
3
Sinkholes. In the last few years, sinkholes have begun in Berezniki,
associated with excessive and poorly calculated underground workings.
They are mainly concentrated in the area of the railway station. You
will not be allowed to look at them, since all the sinkholes are fenced
off, but you can look at the destruction of houses near the sinkhole
zone. For example, houses in the area of Reshetov Square (the southern
end of Lenin Avenue) have been evicted, surrounded by fences, and huge
cracks are clearly visible on them.
4 Little Belgium (Former
residential settlement at the soda factory). The city of Berezniki began
with the village of the same name for visitors, built at the end of the
XIX century at the soda factory. The two-storey red brick buildings were
built according to individual designs by the architectural bureau under
the direction of Alexander Turchevich. The village has been preserved to
some extent, and now the research laboratory of the plant is located in
it. It is believed that the name "Little Industrial Belgium" was coined
incomprehensibly by Boris Pasternak, who got here in 1916, due to the
similarity with the factory settlements of Belgium and the fact that one
of the founders of the plant, Ernest Solvay, was a Belgian. Now the
village is located on the territory of the plant, free access is
impossible. They say that the old buildings are shown as part of a tour
of the Uralkali Museum.
5 Trinity Church (1688). It was built at the
end of the XVII century near the salt fields in the village of Lenva,
now part of the city of Berezniki. Actually, at first it was a
residential house of the Shustovs, who owned the Lenvinsky crafts, but
after a lawsuit with the Stroganovs, the Shustovs were expelled from
their home, and the house was converted into a church. What has come
down to us is a red-brick ruin in the middle of a deserted peninsula on
the Kama.
1 Berezniki Historical and Art Museum named after I.F. Konovalov,
Lenin St., 43. Wed 11:00 - 18:00, Thu 13:00 – 21:00, Fri–Sun 11:00 –
18:00. Historical and artistic collection
2 The museum of School
No. 1. Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, spent his childhood
in the city. His father was repressed and served his sentence at the
construction of the Volga-Don Canal, after which he was sent to
Berezniki. A small museum with his personal belongings and rare
photographs has been opened at the school where Boris Nikolaevich
studied in 1945-1949.
3 Uralkali Museum, 35a Sverdlova str. ☎ +7
(3424) 29-59-75, +7 (3424) 29-59-77. Visiting by request. A modern and
highly interactive museum dedicated to salt and its extraction. Unlike
the museum of the history of salt in Solikamsk, they will not show you
old devices and varnishes here, but there are models of modern mines and
units working in them, as well as sculptures made of potassium-magnesium
ores. One of the best industrial museums in Russia.
By plane
Via Perm; Bereznikov Airport does not accept passenger
flights. A direct bus runs from Perm airport to Berezniki three times a
day, schedule.
By train
Berezniki station is closed due to
sinkholes. A bypass of Berezniki has been built for freight trains, and
passenger trains run to the dead-end Kaliynaya station 10 km from the
city. Trains run 4 times a day in the direction of Kizel, from where you
can go to Chusovoy or Perm. This path is suitable for those who are
interested in the endangered industrial cities of the Perm Region.
Everyone else can save time and nerves by taking a direct bus. The
long–distance Solikamsk-Yekaterinburg train passes by Berezniki and does
not stop anywhere in the vicinity of the city.
1 Potash Station.
It is adjacent to one of the Uralkali mines. Bus No. 21 runs to the city
several times a day, the terminal of which is called BKRU-2, it is
located next to the factory checkpoint. The Kaliynaya station is the
terminal station for passengers of electric trains. The only passenger
train on this branch Yekaterinburg-Solikamsk does not enter the station,
so you can only leave the station by train to Chusovoye or Perm with a
transfer to Ugolouralskaya. The passage to the station through the
courtyard of the only four-storey residential building that is visible
directly from the bus stop. In addition to 21 buses, a bus belonging to
the Uralkali company also runs along the same route. The ride is free.
2 Berezniki-Sorting, Zheleznodorozhny settlement. The last stop of the
trains in front of the Potash. It is somewhat easier to get to the city
from here, since buses No. 142 and 221 run on average once an hour, 45
minutes on the way.
By bus
Buses from Perm run for a little
more than three hours, run quite regularly, about once an hour, the fare
costs about 350 rubles. These buses make stops around the city and
arrive at the bus station. On the contrary, passing buses to Solikamsk,
Krasnovishersk, Cherdyn and Nyrob travel along the eastern outskirts of
Berezniki and may not stop there. You can get to the historical part of
Usolye (popularly known as Old Usolye) by bus: bus to Pyskor, No. 105,
or No. 23 from Pervostroiteley Square or No. 527 from MKR-on the
Outskirts. There is a commuter bus 141 going to Solikamsk, departing
from the same bus station; the journey takes less than an hour. A
popular bus stop in the center of Berezniki is the Lenin Palace of
Culture.
You can also leave in the west and south-east
directions. Buses to Kudymkar run to the west 2-3 times a day. To the
southeast, there are buses to Chusovaya and Lysva with approximately the
same regularity, and besides them there are local buses to Kizel, from
where you can continue moving in the direction of Chusovoy.
3 Bus
station, Demeneva St. (next to the former railway station). ☎ +7 (3424)
29-07-07. The current schedules are available on the bus station's
website. According to some reports, there are also commercial routes
departing from the same area at the former railway station, but not
related to the bus station and, therefore, not reflected in its
schedule.
By car
The road from Perm is of good quality, in
places with divided lanes. Then it goes to Solikamsk, Cherdyn and
Krasnovishersk.
On the ship
There is no regular passenger
navigation along the Kama, and you will not easily approach the river
within the city limits. Cruise ships come to Berezniki several times a
year, tourists are transferred to buses and taken to Solikamsk or
Usolye. In summer, there are pleasure flights along the Kama River on
weekends.
4 River port, at the end of Papanintsev street (6 km
from the center).
The city has a fairly extensive bus and trolleybus network, the cost of travel around the city is 25 rubles (2019). The city is quite long, and you will most likely need buses or trolleybuses. Schedules and routes.
In the area of Sovetskaya Square there is a shopping center TSUM, where you can find shops of various profiles.
1 Boutique confectionery "Gabriel" , Gagarina str., 16 (center).
9:00 – 22:00. A French-style pastry shop, no matter how paradoxical it
may sound in Berezniki. The locals recommend it.
2 Cafe
"Maslenitsa", 34 Pyatiletki str. (center). 10:00 – 23:00. Self-service
cafe, bake good pancakes.
3 Cafe-grill "Gogol-Mogol" , 116a
Pyatiletki str. (next to the Aelita hotel). 12:00 – 24:00, Fri and Sat
until 2:00. Apparently, one of the best cafes in Berezniki. The interior
is pleasant, there are musical performances and themed evenings. On
weekdays, the cafe promises breakfast from 7 a.m., although it is not
entirely clear how they are compatible with the stated opening hours.
4 Central Department Store, 41 Pyatiletki str. (city center). There
is a food court on the upper floor. There is nothing particularly
outstanding there, but you can eat quite normally: not only fast food,
but also food to order (without service).
1 Berezka Hotel, 47a Lenin Ave. ☎ +7 (3424) 20-95-96, +7 (3424)
26-43-43. From 200 rubles/person, double room: 1900 rubles. An economy
class hotel offering beds in 4- and 8-bed rooms, as well as private
rooms for two.
2 Berezniki Hotel, Sovetskaya Square, 3. ☎ +7 (3424)
23-53-17. The cheapest room: 1500 rubles, renovated rooms: from 3000
rubles. The Soviet-era building is being gradually renovated and, like
many Russian hotels, contains rooms of completely different levels at
equally different prices. Conflicting reviews, especially regarding
breakfast. Wi-Fi.
3 Aelita Hotel, 116a Pyatiletki str. (The eastern
end of the city, you can get from the center, for example, by
trolleybuses 5, 7). ✉ ☎ +7 (3424) 20-20-90. Single rooms: 2,200 rubles,
double rooms: 2,400 rubles. An ordinary apartment building in which 40
apartments have been converted into hotel rooms. Accordingly, each room
has a kitchen with a refrigerator. The Wi-Fi is working. There is no
online booking, you need to write by e-mail. The two entrances are not
connected and represent two different hotels, although the reservation
is common, and you will not be informed in which entrance you booked a
room.
4 Pride Hotel, Bolshevistsky ave. 5. ☎ +7 (3424)
20-10-12. From 3,500 rubles. A small private hotel with nice but not
cheap rooms.
5 The Eden Hotel, Lomonosova str., 149 (Located in the
Abramovo district. There are several routes to the center, covering
different parts of the city.). ☎ +73424256060. around the clock. from
2,460 rubles . It occupies half of the renovated former dormitory
building. Residential apartments are located in the second half of the
house. There is a restaurant at the hotel. Wi-Fi.
Nothing special, the same precautions as in an ordinary Russian industrial city. Don't go into unfamiliar areas at night, don't look for adventures trying to get into factories or sinkholes, and nothing will happen to you.
Berezniki is the gateway to the Northern Kama region. If you come here for the first time, do not linger, much more interesting Usolye, Solikamsk and Cherdyn are waiting for you. In the immediate vicinity of Berezniki, all historical settlements are located on the right bank of the Kama River, you will go there through Usolye anyway. If you are tired of the ancient cities, you can see something completely opposite to the southeast of Berezniki. In the early 1930s, Paustovsky, who was heading to Berezniki, wrote that after Chusovoy, the lights went out on the train, and the conductor answered the passengers' questions "Why candles? Factories will shine for you here." These plants are still standing, but only one of them shines — the coke plant in Gubakha, poisoning the air with a huge torch. Kizel and Gremyachinsk once specialized in coal mining, but now they have turned into endangered ghost towns. The road running through these cities is incredibly picturesque, the proximity of the Urals is felt here with might and main, and it is interesting to drive in this direction once: you will see the wonderful Ural nature and get a better feel for the realities of local life. However, plan in advance where to stop on the way, for how long and why.
The city got its name from the Bereznikovsky saltworks, and the fishery was called "Bereznikovsky" because it was located on Berezovy Island.
The first Russian settlements on the territory of the city arose in
the XVI—XVII centuries on the basis of salt industries. For the first
time in 1570, the village of Zyryanka was mentioned. In 1579, Abramovo
was founded — the first Russian settlement on the territory of the
modern city, in the same year the Chipmunk repair (Semino) was first
mentioned. In 1670, a settlement arose, and later the mountain town of
Dedyukhin. In the XVII century, a number of settlements were formed near
the saltworks — Lenva, Berezniki, Veretye and others.
The rapid
development of the village of Berezniki began in the 80s of the XIX
century, when Perm industrialist Ivan Ivanovich Lyubimov built the
Berezniki soda factory, which was advanced at that time. The soda
factory was founded on the basis of two salt factories: the old
Dedyukhinsky and the Bereznikovsky salt factory proper, which operated
in 1782-1797 and was restored in 1873.
Berezniki soda factory
marked the beginning of modern Berezniki. With the construction of the
plant, the appearance of the area changes — on the left bank of the Kama
River, opposite Usolye, by order of I. I. Lyubimov, the architectural
and technical bureau of A. B. Turchevich designs a factory village with
residential buildings, a school, a hotel and a theater. By the beginning
of the XX century, the residential settlement of the soda factory was
built.
Berezniki was part of the Lenvensky volost of Solikamsk
(before 1918) and Usolsky (1918-1923) counties of Perm province.
Boris Pasternak, who came to Berezniki on official business, in a letter
to S. P. Bobrov dated June 24, 1916, calls the Lyubimov, Solvay and Co.
plant and the village under it "a small industrial Belgium." After its
nationalization by the decree of the Supreme Economic Council of
28.09.1918, the Berezniki Soda Factory was transformed in 1923 into the
Berezniki Exemplary Soda Factory (combine) named after V. I. Lenin.
Since 1923, Berezniki was part of the Verkhkamsky district of the
Ural region, and after its zoning in 1924-1930, it was part of the
Lenvensky district, subordinated to the Vereti settlement Council. In
1930-1934, Berezniki was the center of the large Bereznikovsky district
of the Ural region.
The reason for the formation of modern Birch
Forests was the discovery of a unique (one of the richest in the world)
Verkhnekamsk deposit of potassium and magnesium salts. The Bereznikovsky
and Durymansky sections of the deposit with balance reserves of 2,4
billion tons of potash salts are located directly on the territory of
the city.
On March 20, 1932, the Presidium of the Central
Executive Committee of the RSFSR decided to merge into one city named
Berezniki: the city of Usolye and the working settlements of Veretiya,
Dedyukhino, Lenva, Ust-Zyryanka and Churtan of the Berezniki district of
the Ural region. The urban area of the united city of Berezniki included
the adjacent settlements with their homesteads and land: the village of
Berezniki, which gave the name to the united city, art. Usolskaya of the
Perm Railway, the Usolskaya pier on the Kama River, the village of
Zyryanka, the village of Kamen (Sergieva), the village of Basevo and the
newly formed settlement on the territory of the agricultural Usolsky
combine. This decision was approved by the Presidium of the Central
Executive Committee of the USSR on August 17, 1933.
In the 1st
five-year plan, Berezniki turned into a major center of the chemical
industry. The construction of the giant chemical industry of the USSR,
the Berezniki Chemical Plant, was completed on the territory of the
city, and after the Great Patriotic War, a new branch of the mining
industry, potash, was developed.
With the abolition of the Ural
Region in January 1934, the city became part of the newly formed
Sverdlovsk Region, and on March 9, 1934, Bereznikovsky district was
renamed Voroshilovsky with the preservation of the district center in
Berezniki.
When the Perm (Molotov) region was separated from the
Sverdlovsk Region in 1938, the city was included in its composition.
After the separation of the city of Usolye from the Berezniki line in
1940, the center of the transformed Voroshilovsky district was moved
there, and Berezniki itself received the status of a city of regional
significance and ceased to enter the district.
During the Great
Patriotic War, the city produced everything necessary for the front and
recruited military units of the Red Army. With the outbreak of the war,
the industrial enterprises of Berezniki switched to the production of
military products, which were produced both by local factories and those
evacuated from the western regions of the country. Thousands of citizens
took part in the fighting on the fronts during the war years.
Back in the pre-war years (November 1939), the 112th Infantry Division
of the Ural Military District was formed (in June 1941, the 22nd Army
was formed on its base) with headquarters in Perm. The 524th Infantry
Regiment, which was part of the division (commander - Lieutenant Colonel
Valentin Andreevich Apakidze) was stationed in Berezniki, and was
staffed largely by residents of the city. At Nevel, the division,
including the 524th Infantry Regiment, was completely surrounded, from
which less than 1/3 of the personnel managed to get out.
From
November 4, 1959 to February 1, 1963, Berezniki was the administrative
center of the Bereznikovsky district, not part of it. According to the
reform in 1963, the city of Usolye and the working village of Orel, as
well as Zyryansky, Pyskorsky and Troitsky village councils, passed from
the abolished district to the subordination of Berezniki. In 1965, these
settlements with the Pyskorsky village Council were returned to the
restored Usolsky district, except for Berezniki itself, which continued
to be a city of regional (since 2005, regional) significance, as well as
the Troitsk Village Council, which remained subordinate to the Berezniki
City Council. Before that, in 1964, the Zyryansky Village Council was
abolished, part of its settlements was reassigned to the Troitsk Village
Council (the villages of Durymany, Kosevsky, Krugly Rudnik and others),
and the other part (the villages of Baskakovo, Bygel, Novozhilova,
Sukhanova, Novostroy settlement) was recognized as actually merged with
the city of Berezniki; later all of them were included in the the city
limits.
On February 5, 1971, the city was awarded the Order of
the Red Banner of Labor.
In 1976, the Yurchuk oil field was
discovered on the city's lands (9 km from the development zone), and
since 1977 the Yurchuk oil field with initial balance reserves of 37.1
million tons has been operated. The annual production of the field is
335 thousand tons of oil. The Zayachya Gorka silicate sands deposit is
being developed (balance reserves of 10.7 million m3, production of 276
thousand m3), the Sukhanovskoye clay deposit (reserves of 2.1 million
m3) is scheduled for development, the PGS deposit (2 million m3) is a
reserve.
The area of the city is 431.1 km2. The city is located on both banks of the Kama River (the main part is on the left). The distance to Perm by rail is 278 km, by water — 208 km, along the Perm — Berezniki regional highway 180 km. In 1981, the city was connected by a bridge to the city of Usolye.
The average annual air temperature is 0.9 °C
The relative humidity
of the air is 74.2 %
The average wind speed is 3.2 m/s
The
climate of the city is moderately continental with harsh long winters
and warm short summers. Breakthroughs of cold Arctic air masses from the
north are possible throughout the year. The number of days without sun
is 109. The duration of stable frosts is 136 days, from the first decade
of November to the third decade of March. The territory of Berezniki
belongs to the zone of sufficient moisture. The average annual
precipitation is 829 mm. The snow cover appears in the second decade of
October, and disappears in the third decade of April. The prevailing
wind direction is southerly.
In mid-October 2006, one of the mines of BKRU-1 of Uralkali OJSC was
flooded. In the middle of summer (at the end of July 2007), a sinkhole
formed over the workings. A federal railway line fell into the sinkhole
zone, and traffic along it had to be closed for a long time. The
construction of a new railway bypassing dangerous sections was completed
only at the end of 2009, before that time the temporary backup road was
operated with great difficulty. Residential buildings were also located
near the sinkhole zone (less than 1 km).
On November 25, 2010, a
new sinkhole 20 meters deep, 50 meters wide and 50 meters long was
formed in the city on the territory of the station. One of the railroad
cars fell into it. According to the press service of JSC "Russian
Railways", the cable trunks of signaling, centralization and
communication, 4 poles of the contact network, 3 switches and the first
track of the cargo fleet have been put out of operation. The management
of JSC Russian Railways sent appeals to JSC GALURGIA, the Mining
Institute of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences and JSC
Uralkali in order to confirm the preservation of the stability of the
railway infrastructure at Berezniki station and the possibility of its
further use. On November 28, 2010, the work of the Berezniki station was
suspended. On November 29, 2010, the sinkhole reached a size of 100 by
40 meters. The operational headquarters of Russian Railways is working
at the scene]. On December 1, 2010, from 6:00 Moscow time, taking into
account preparatory work, train traffic outside the danger zone resumed
at the station. On June 22, 2011, the size of the sinkhole was 117 by 70
meters with a maximum depth of about 90 meters. In 2011, the following
sinkhole formed near the second sinkhole in the area of the railway
station.
According to the All-Russian Population Census of 2020, as of October
1, 2021, the city was in 126th place out of 1120 cities of the Russian
Federation in terms of population.
The natural population growth
in the city is negative. During the period 1989-2019, the population
decreased by 30%. The share of the working—age population is 63.6%, the
population younger than the able-bodied is 16.1%, older than the
able—bodied is 20.3%. The gender and age structure of the population is
dominated by men (50.5%), their share is especially high in the working
age (56.9%). Women predominate in old age (74%).
According to the 2010 census (in % of the total population): Russians (90.87%), Tatars (3.16%), Ukrainians (0.81%), Komi-Permians (0.67%), Germans (0.51%).
Berezniki is characterized by an excessive concentration of
industrial potential and especially heavy industry, its basic
industries. 13.8% of the industrial and production fixed assets of the
region are concentrated in the city's economy. The enterprises of the
chemical complex account for 87.3% of fixed assets and 79.2% of
industrial products of Berezniki, 8.2% and 8.8%, respectively, for fuel
and energy, while the complex for the production of consumer goods
unites 1% of funds and produces 6.7% of industrial products. Mechanical
engineering is poorly developed (1.2% of the funds and industrial
products of the city).
A number of industrial enterprises in the
city are (and are officially recognized as) monopolists in the Russian
market. These are:
Azot Branch of JSC URALCHEM (ammonium nitrate,
carbamide and other nitrogen-containing fertilizers);
Beraton OJSC
(went bankrupt and liquidated);
AVISMA branch of PJSC VSMPO-AVISMA
Corporation (titanium sponge and titanium powders, magnesium metal,
magnesium alloys and products, chemical products);
PJSC Uralkali (the
only producer of potash fertilizers in the country since 2011, after
merging with OJSC Silvinit).
A significant part of the products
is exported. For example, the export of PJSC VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation
amounts to about 20 million US dollars per year (5.4% of the region's
foreign trade supplies).
In 2009, for manufacturing enterprises,
the volume of shipped goods of their own production, completed works and
services on their own amounted to 45.1 billion rubles.
Berezniki
is one of the 12 largest centers of concentrated construction in the
Urals with an initial volume of work performed of about 100 million
rubles (in 1989 prices). The largest construction organization is the
Bereznikihimstroy Trust.
Industrial enterprises and industrial
infrastructure facilities form three industrial zones:
western
(BCPRU-1 PJSC Uralkali, JSC Azot, JSC Bereznikovsky Soda Plant, etc.)
northern (AVISMA branch of PJSC VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation, etc.)
north-eastern (BCPRU-4 PJSC Uralkali)
At the end of 2016, there
were 2,374 enterprises and organizations in the city, employing 49.8
thousand people. The average salary of Berezniki residents in 2016 was
37.4 thousand rubles.
The Perm—Solikamsk highway passes through the city, there is a river
port on the left bank of the Kama reservoir.
Previously, the city
was a major transport hub of the region: the Chusovskaya—Solikamsk
railway line passed through the city at Berezniki station, but after
failures in the city, railway communication is now completely
eliminated, the station at the station is boarded up and closed, there
is no train traffic, there is a threat of further failures.
Until
2001, Berezniki Airport operated, which provided the city with air links
to other regions of the region, as well as operated regular flights to
Moscow, St. Petersburg and other Russian cities. Currently, the
possibility of resuming regular passenger flights from the airport is
being considered, as well as the possibility of accepting business
aviation.
Since May 15, 2010, bus and trolleybus routes have been
combined into a single route network with a single numbering. New routes
have been introduced.
In 1961, a trolleybus was launched in Berezniki (this is one of two
cities in the region with urban electric transport). The length of
trolleybus lines is more than 30 km.
In the city at various times
there were routes 1, 1k, 2, 3, 3A, 4, 5, 6, 6k, 7, 7A, 8, 9, 9B, 10, 11,
11A, 12, 14, 15, A, K, Co.
Since May 15, 2010, three routes 5
(K), 6, 7, and 9 have been served (but not regularly). The remaining
routes are closed or serviced by buses and minibuses of private
entrepreneurs.
The four longest routes that plied the city at one
time were the following:
3 — Jubilee Square → (along Pyatiletki
Street) → Soda (Bereznikovsky soda plant)
8 — Pervostroiteley Square
→ (on Pyatiletki Street) → BRU-2
12 — Yubileynaya Square → (along
Pyatiletka Street) BRU-1 → (along Yubileynaya Street) Yubileynaya Square
15 — Yubileynaya Square → (along Yubileynaya Street, then along
Pyatiletka Street) The outskirts
In 2013, the number of regular
routes was reduced to three, and the situation with rolling stock is
improving. There are 47 trolleybuses in operation.
Three thermal power plants have been built in the city to supply industrial enterprises and the population: Bereznikovskaya CHP-2, Bereznikovskaya CHP-4, Bereznikovskaya CHP-10.
The city is characterized by a developed social infrastructure. The
housing stock is 300.8 thousand m2 of the total area, including 94.8% of
the generalized fund. The level of improvement of the generalized and
cooperative housing stock (the share of equipped living space, in %):
water supply 99.4; sewerage 99.4; central heating 99.5; bath or shower
96.3; gas 94.0; hot water 99.2. 83% of citizens have separate
apartments, 8.5% live in communal apartments, 4.8% live in dormitories,
3.6 % occupy their own house.
There are 219 retail enterprises in
the city (including 164 shops with an area of 30,120 m2 and 55 tents,
211 catering enterprises (18 thousand seats, of which 281 are in the
suburban area). There are 22 communication companies in Berezniki (1992)
and a PBX with a total capacity of 9.1 thousand numbers. In terms of
telephony (33.5 devices per 100 families), the city is significantly
ahead of the regional average (29.1). The 2nd regional hospital is
located in the city. The bed stock of hospital facilities is about 3040
units, doctors — 832, nurses — 2160. There is a drama theater, a drama
theater "Benefit". The number of places in club institutions is 4.2
thousand units, the library book fund is 1.0 million volumes (1992)
The education system includes a branch of Perm National Research
Polytechnic University, a branch of Perm State University, a
representative office of the Russian State Vocational Pedagogical
University, 4 secondary specialized educational institutions
(polytechnic college (899 students, 41 teachers), a medical school (533
and 83 respectively), a construction college (661 and 30), a music
college, a lyceum No. 1, about 30 secondary schools, 8 vocational
schools and 102 pre-school institutions (12,656 places, 3,817
employees). Among people over the age of 15, 24.2% have higher or
secondary specialized education (1989). Among the employed population,
the share of specialists is 22.2%.
Berezniki is the second
largest scientific center in the Perm Region. Scientific organizations
of the city have (1991) the main means of scientific activity for 7.8
million rubles, including 2.1 million rubles. — machinery and equipment
(in 1989 prices), about eight hundred employees work in organizations
(including 309 have higher education, 35 of them are candidates of
sciences).
The main scientific institutions are the Russian
Institute of Titanium and Magnesium (200 employees, including 23
candidates of sciences, 2.9 million rubles of fixed assets, scientific
departments for Soda (28 employees), for Azot (22 employees, including 1
candidate of sciences).
of Bereznikovsky Rabochy — four times a week (the oldest edition,
owned by PJSC Uralkali since 2004)
Bereznikovskaya Nedelya — weekly
(supplement to the newspaper Bereznikovsky Rabochy, an independent legal
entity and registration as a media since 2005, owned by Uralkali OJSC)
Berezniki Vechernye — weekly (founder and publisher — ID Printing House
of Merchant Tarasov LLC)
"Week. RU" — weekly (owned by JSC "Azot")
"Novaya Gazeta-1" — weekly (city administration publication,
discontinued in March 2008)
"All advertising" — weekly advertising
and information newspaper (founder - LLC "Press—MAYAK"), electronic
version on the website
"Youth Portal" — weekly youth advertising and
information newspaper (founder — Press-MAYAK LLC), electronic version on
the website
"Other city newspaper" — is published irregularly
(private edition, founder — Kovbasyuk V. V.)
"Verkhnekamye" —
regional application of the AIF, weekly (not published)
"City
Newspaper" — weekly (owned by Uralkali OJSC) — closed in November 2014
"On the Wave" is a newspaper—magazine, published twice a month,
publisher Vladimir Potekhin since September 2014
, "Novaya
Gorodskaya" - weekly, published by the former staff of "Gorodskaya
Gazeta" since December 2014
Broadband Internet access and cellular communications are developed in Berezniki. The largest Russian telecom operators work in the city: Rostelecom, ER-Telecom (Дом.ги ), TransTeleCom, Tele2, MegaFon, Beeline, MTS, Satellite Service.
Bruno Freundlich (1909-2002). He became an honorary citizen in 1984.
Since 2018, the title of honorary citizen of the municipal formation
"Berezniki City" has been awarded, to which the titles of honorary
citizens of the city of Berezniki, Usolsky municipal district, Usolsky
urban and Troitsk rural settlements are equated.