EBRD allots USD 290 million for Amur route and St. Petersburg ring road construction

Russia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed an agreement protocol for the second transport credit of USD 290 million on May 13. The first credit of USD 229 million was issued in 2002, said Director of the State Road Construction Service Igor Slyunyaev at a press conference on Tuesday. Of these funds, USD 190 million will be allotted to the building of the Chita-Khabarovsk or 'Amur' route and USD 100 million on the St. Petersburg ring road. Presumably, a credit agreement on the second transport loan will be signed in fall, said Slyunyaev.

The State Road Construction Service has already stopped receiving qualified bids from companies for the right to build the St. Petersburg ring road with the second EBRD credit. 25 companies competed in the bidding. This round of the tender for the right to build the St. Petersburg ring road should be concluded by July, and the winner will be announced no earlier than October 2003.

Slyunyaev also said that he intends to sign another agreement with the EBRD for a transport credit of an additional USD 1 billion. He said this agreement may be signed in 2003. Slyunyaev said that with these funds the service will build bridges and ring roads in the major Russian cities of Volgograd, Uliyanovsk and Yaroslavl.

Slyunyaev said that traffic should be opened on the Chita-Khabarovsk or 'Amur' route sometime in the first quarter of 2004. At the present time, during construction of the route, 500-700 cars pass along the route each day. After construction is complete, that number will increase to 3000-3500 cars.