Transport infrastructure of remote territories (example of Todzhinsky kozhuun of Tyva and Okinsky district of Buryatia)

It is notable that remote and difficult to reach areas of the Earth often have rich natural resources, including minerals deposits. These territories with a low population density and scant infrastructural availability may be promising for companies engaged in mining and processing of raw materials. A series of legislative initiatives and implemented decisions in the Russian Federation are aimed at the dynamic development of the transport infrastructure of such areas through private investments as basic or additional ones. This is connected with the fact that at present construction and operation of public budget highways in the territories under consideration is practically unrealizable due to their high cost. Mining enterprises, in carrying out their production activities, need infrastructure support, investing heavily in the construction of highways. At the same time, due to the created transport infrastructure, the social development of the local communities, previously to some extent deprived of this modern benefit of civilization, is being promoted. However, the new transport options entail some moral and ethical problems with concomitant contradictions in the desires of the population to have access to these opportunities and at the same time be protected from indiscriminate visits from the outside. In this work, we have studied a number of prospects for the development of transport infrastructure, due to the activity of mining companies in two model territories - the Todzha kozhuun of the Tyva Republic and the Okinsky district of the Republic of Buryatia. The interdisciplinary research approach included a wide range of methods, i.e. comparative geographic and statistical analysis, data generalization, network ontology and problem discourse, in-depth and group interviews with representatives of the local population. The results of collecting data on the development and support of specific transport networks, as well as materials of the author’s field studies, are presented, and pertinent comparative analysis is carried out. It should be noted that there is a duality in the attitude of the residents of the surveyed territories concerning proximity of mining companies: on the one hand, expectation of significant improvement in economic situation of their settlements at the expenses of miners and manifestation of obvious favorable attitude towards them, and on the other hand, simultaneous concern about accompanying environmental threats.