The shipyard complex is being built in the Zhatai urban settlement, which is located half a dozen kilometres from Yakutsk, in Yakutia Advanced Special Economic Zone. Alexander Stotsky, General Director of the Project Office for Arctic Development, states this with reference to Vladimir Sivtsev, Minister of Transport and Road Management of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

The reconstruction of the Zhatai ship repair facility and its transformation into a full-fledged shipyard is being carried out under the federal programme 'Development of Shipbuilding and Marine Equipment for the Development of Offshore Fields.' The work is being carried out in cooperation with the Baltic and Sredne-Nevsk shipyards (St. Petersburg). Construction work started in July 2019.

The renovation project is important both for the republic and for the development of shipping in Russia's eastern Arctic zone. After the project is completed, the Zhatai shipyard will be able to produce about ten river and sea vessels a year, which will meet the needs of carriers operating on the northern rivers—Lena, Yana and Kolyma—as well as in the waters of the North Sea Route.