Reservoir, or from any other Volga or Kama port farther north, would have to traverse on their way to the Don. The project was abruptly cancelled on 1 August 1990 to cut expenditure, by which time more than 40 percent of its funds had already been spent. Since then most of the stone and metal in the abandoned canal and its locks has been looted. As of 2007–2008, Russian authorities are considering two options for increasing the throughput of navigable waterways between the Caspian basin and the Black Sea. One option, which reuses the name "Volga–Don 2", is to build a second parallel channel ("second thread") of the Volga–Don Canal, equipped with larger locks long. This plan would allow for an increase in the canal's annual cargo throughput from 16.5 million tonnes to 30 million tonnes. The other option, which seems to have more support from Kazakhstan, who would be either canal's major customer, is to build the so-called Eurasia Canal along a more southerly route in the Kuma–Manych Depression, some of which is the much shallower Manych Ship Canal. Needing less digging than the first option and of little use to traffic to and from the Volga, it would provide a speedier connection between the Caspian and the Sea of Azov. It would also require fewer locks than the Volga–Don, as elevations in the Kuma–Manych Depression are lower. See also Volgodonsk Yergeni White Sea–Baltic Canal Unified Deep Water System of European Russia References External links 1952 establishments in the Soviet Union Canals in Russia Canals opened in 1952 CVolga-Don Gulag industry Ship canals Transport in Volgograd Oblast CVolga-Don Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Volgograd Oblast