Speaking Tuesday at the Federation Council (the upper house of parliament), Levitin said a number of European countries had been charging Russian haulers for some time. He said Russia could earn an extra $2 billion for highway maintenance if foreign trucks paid a toll equal to the European average.
He said all of Russia's federal highways in need of renovation should be refurbished within the next two years. Otherwise, many of them would go beyond the point of repair in three years' time and new roads would then have to be built to replace them.
The minister said an agreement had been reached to complete the construction of unfinished bridges within the same timeframe.
Levitin told the Senators that highway maintenance in Russia was now 30% underfunded and that a mere 1.3% of GDP had been allocated for the purpose this year, 1.6% less than in 2000.
The minister also said that ships sailing under the Russian flag now transported a mere 5% of this country's cargoes, but added that the market was worth an estimated $6 billion. He said Russia would be able to redress the imbalance to some extent by drawing up an international register of ships.
Levitin also said that a regulatory framework for transactions with air carriers had to be established so as to ensure the legality of leasing and other operations involving aircraft.
