vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #159 / Special reports / Reading article...

Ferry service to Russky Island resumed Jan. 24 after a three-week hiatus that left residents without medical services, food, and transportation to and from the mainland.

But the solution is only a temporary one for the island suburb of Vladivostok.

The island's nearly 10,000 residents were stranded at the start of the year when the city failed to renew its contract with ferry provider Vladmorpass. The city also refused to pay 15 billion rubles in arrears to Vladmorpass, which said it could no longer afford to lease boats from its parent company, the Vladivostok Commercial Port.

According to Krai Shipping and Seaports Committee Chairman Gennadi Nesov, Cherepkov did not want to fully subsidize the service because Vladmorpass and its parent company the Vladivostok Commercial Port are in the midst of privatization and should no longer require city help.

Cherepkov was unavailable for comment, but he told Zolotoi Rog newspaper that the whole mess was the fault of Vladmorpass. The company is bloated with too many employees and has more boats than needed, the mayor said, and the Vladmorpass can't account for how it spends city money.

"If you can't handle it, turn it over to municipal ownership," Cherepkov said. "This is the third time this situation has happened."

The krai administration finally intervened as conditions on Russky Island reached miserable proportions. Food shelves on the island were bare, and a pregnant woman could not get to a hospital before giving birth to her child.

The krai administration followed the lead of the Pacific Fleet, which last week began running a scaled-back ferry service to deal with the emergency.

Nesov convinced the mayor to pay a tenth of the city's debt and in exchange created a state-run commission that will decide how to solve the problem for good. The krai may create a cheaper state-owned ferry service and pay for the Russky Island route itself, Nesov said. It may also try to reduce costs for the city.

With the mayor's money, the Commercial Port will now provide three boats, including two ferries, until the krai makes its decision.

"There was no other choice," Nesov said. "It is simply the type of mayor we have."