State Council works out new strategy of transport development in Russia

The working group of the Russian State Council has defined the main goals of the country's transport policy, leader of the group, head of the Novosibirsk region administration Viktor Tolokonsky announced at a press conference on Tuesday.

"The new transport strategy worked out by the State Council contains the main tasks of the state policy in the transport sphere and defines its main goals. For Russia with its vast territories the transport sector is an important factor for further economic growth," Tolokonsky pointed out.

"The working out of a transport strategy implies transfer to long-term planning in the transport sphere," Russian Transport Minister Sergei Frank said in his turn. "There are objective pre-conditions for this transfer, as fulfillment of transport projects sometimes takes up to 10 and more years, he explained. Yet another important element of the strategy is working out of a transport and economic balance that is a very important planning tool, the minister pointed out.

The State Council's working group has also chosen priority projects that "will radically improve the situation in the transport sector," Frank said. "The work will form a basis for adjusting the federal target programme 'Modernization of Russia's transport system'", he added.

The strategy analyses the most dangerous disproportions in the transport sector, the minister believes. "The most dangerous disproportion lies in inadequacy between the rate of road building and the rate of automobilization," he pointed out.

The strategy also analyses the issues of resource provision, Frank said. This problem cannot be solved only from the budget, he believes. "We have to use all mechanisms for attracting investment. For the example, the strategy considers principles and state and private partnership, concessions and paid services of transport infrastructure," the minister explained.

Due to the strategy's fulfillment, mobility of the population will increase by 50 per cent by 2025, 8 out of 10 Russian families will have automobiles, the index of transport tariff growth will not increase 0.8-0.9 per cent of inflation rate, while transit frights via Russian territory will amount to 60-70 million tons, Frank announced.