RosOEZ approved the master plan for the special economic zone Gates of Baikal in Bolshoye Goloustnoye. The project has passed engineering surveys and is in the final stage of preparation. The article details hotels, tourist facilities, social infrastructure, and engineering solutions for the future resort area, designed to host 3,250 guests at once. It also discusses project remarks, including moving the yacht club, preserving the Buryat village, and aligning the zone development with the needs of the settlement.

The second stage of developing the planning project for the special economic zone of tourist and recreational type “Gates of Baikal” in the settlement of Bolshoye Goloustnoye is nearing completion. On November 14, at a meeting at RosOEZ, the master plan scheme for the tourist zone, developed by JSC “Irkutskgrazhdanproekt,” was approved. It was not without remarks and suggestions. According to the chief architect of the project, Elena Khazykova, all of them will be taken into account in the near future. The final deadline for the urban planning document to be ready is February 2009.
The contract for developing the planning project for the “Gates of Baikal” SEZ was signed with “Irkutskgrazhdanproekt” on July 7. According to the terms of the competition, the institute must develop and approve the document within 225 days. The work includes three stages. By November, the institute had to carry out a comprehensive set of engineering surveys, which has already been done; then, by the end of the year, prepare materials substantiating the planning project, including the master plan scheme, which clarifies the main zones of the SEZ, the number of facilities, and so on. Two months remain to develop and approve the main part of the document.
If the concept presented in the spring gave a general picture of the SEZ, then the master plan scheme already makes it possible to imagine the future “Gates of Baikal” in greater detail. According to the project considered at RosOEZ, the tourist zone will include a congress hotel (300 beds), a four-star yacht club hotel (200 beds), an adventure village with two hotels (for 500 and 600 guests) and a club hotel (400 beds), a sports village with two hotels of different classes (total capacity 800 people), spa and wellness complexes, where there will be a five-star hotel (200 beds) and a four-star hotel (250 beds). In total, the tourist zone will be able to accommodate 3,250 guests at once. In addition, sites have been allocated for the construction of an operations base, a medical facility, and a fire station.
During the meeting, RosOEZ voiced several remarks and suggestions. According to Elena Khazykova, one of them was to move the yacht club from the northeast of the future SEZ to its southern part, near the old port. The federal agency also asked that the territory located in federal ownership be taken into account in the project.
– This site was originally intended to house communications facilities, but installing towers there is impractical – the sanitary zone would take up too much territory, – explained the chief architect of the project. – We propose laying out a park here and building housing for service personnel. At the request of RosOEZ, we also left the Irkutsk Pedagogical State University training practice base in the tourist zone. By the way, we also took into account the wishes of the residents of Bolshoye Goloustnoye – the authentic Buryat village where local people perform rituals will be preserved.
However, the designers will unfortunately not be able to fulfill the residents’ request to organize pastures – livestock grazing areas do not fit into the concept of the tourist zone. And daily passage of animals through control points will also be problematic. So now the task of the local authorities is to find and provide other places for pastures.
Another proposal from RosOEZ representatives concerned moving the water park closer to the congress center, which will be located at the central entrance to the tourist zone.
– In addition to the master plan scheme, at the meeting at RosOEZ we presented several proposals for engineering infrastructure, but without details, – said Elena Khazykova. – For example, we indicated where it would be better to install underground closed-type treatment facilities. We also made proposals regarding the location of social facilities – schools, kindergartens, a polyclinic, and cultural and household service facilities.
According to specialists from Irkutskgrazhdanproekt, the SEZ needs the construction of one kindergarten for 150 places, a pharmacy, a club for 500 people, an outpatient clinic, a library, three catering enterprises, a post office, a sports hall, and a household services enterprise. It will also be necessary to expand the existing school – currently 100 children study there, and the number of places must be increased to 400. The calculations were made taking into account the development of the settlement of Bolshoye Goloustnoye. As Elena Khazykova noted, the institute is also currently completing the development of the master plan for the Irkutsk District, so the specialists are trying to link the development of the settlement and the SEZ into a single whole.
– For example, we placed the settlement for the tourist zone service personnel on the site of the former airfield, which is very close to the existing settlement, – Elena Khazykova explained. – This will make it possible in the future to bring engineering networks to Bolshoye Goloustnoye as well. Moreover, both settlements will ultimately receive a unified social infrastructure and primary cultural and household service facilities.
As reported earlier, according to the concept, the tourist zone in Bolshoye Goloustnoye is divided into two sections. One, in the foothills of the northern part of the SEZ, is intended for tourists who come to Baikal for at least a week. It is planned to place a sports village, an adventure village, and a SPA center there. Closer to Bolshoye Goloustnoye there will be a zone for guests who come for one or two days. Here it is planned to build a water park, a swimming pool with a retractable roof, an equestrian sports club, an entertainment and sports center, and a congress hall. The total investment volume will amount to 18.8 billion rubles.
According to Ekaterina Vokhmina, deputy head of the Territorial Administration of RosOEZ for the Irkutsk Region, no applications from potential residents of the tourist zone have yet been received. Investors are waiting for approval of the SEZ’s main urban planning document – the territory planning project, work on which should be completed in February.