Modernisation Of Russia's Transport Programme To Cost 379 Bln Roubles In 2002

The realisation of the federal targeted programme Modernisation of Russia's Transport System will cost 379 billion roubles (1 dollar equals 29.71 roubles) in 2002, Russian Transport Minister Sergei Frank said on Friday at a press conference in the media center of the Izvestia daily. The start of this programme, designed for 8 years, has been provided for, said Frank. Of the total amount of spending for the next year, 81 billion roubles will be allocated from the federal budget and the rest will come from regional budgets and extrabudgetary sources. Minister Sergei Frank stressed that the main projects in the programme will be financed mostly from the funds of transportation units. Of the 4,500 billion roubles required for the work of the programme in 2002-2010 only 22.5 percent will come from the federal budget and 30.4 percent from the budgets of the Federation entities, 47.1 percent from extrabudgetary sources. Of the latters, the funds of enterprises will constitute 86.7 percent. Minister Frank reported that the bulk of means to arrive from the federal budget /75.5 billion roubles/ will be spent on the modernisation of highways. He specially spoke of the need to build the trans-Siberian highway. By 2004, it is planned to open the 10,000 kilometer-long through passage from Moscow to Vladivostok, he said. Now work is under way on the Siberian leg of this road, Chita-Khabarovsk, where the gap is more than 1,000 kilometers.