ODINTSOVO, Moscow Region, August 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday urged coordinated efforts in building sections of a new highway around Moscow to alleviate traffic jams.
“Each section has its own length, investors, specifications and economy. A verified plan for launching individual sections is needed for the project to be successful and yield necessary returns for investors,” Putin said at a meeting on transportation infrastructure development in the Moscow Region.
The planned Central Ring Road, a 340-kilometer (210 mile) toll highway running across the Moscow Region about 50 kilometers from the MKAD ring road, is expected to optimize road freight transportation and alleviate congestion on other local roads.
According to Russia’s Transportation Ministry, the construction should be completed by 2018, with total investment reaching 300 billion rubles ($9 billion).
Private investment in the Central Ring Road may exceed 60 billion rubles ($1.9 billion), Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said at the meeting.
“I believe it would be possible to attract ample funds from investors, so we would be able to consider saving funds from the state budget,” he said.
Putin added that the government’s efforts in modernizing transportation infrastructure in central Russia should focus on effectively integrating various kinds of transportation, developing highways and increasing their carrying capacity by building new junctions in the most complex sections, and expanding suburban railways.
