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EBRD lends $229 million for key Russian road projects
Loan will open road link to Far East and ease St Petersburg traffic
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending $229 million to help Russia complete two key road projects with major implications for the country's economy.
The 15-year loan, the Bank's first to the Russian road sector, will help Russia build its first road link to the Far East as well as complete a by-pass allowing trucks plying the main highway between Moscow and the Finnish border to avoid the centre of St Petersburg.
This loan will not only bring tangible benefits in the form of new road construction, EBRD President Jean Lemierre said, but it also marks the start of a strategic cooperation between the Bank and the Russian Ministry of Transport in broader areas including road safety and the general approach to financing and managing the road system.
The EBRD loan will fund the construction of a section of the eastern by-pass being built to deflect heavy trucks away from the historic centre of St Petersburg. The four-lane by-pass, whose completion is expected in 2005, should speed the movement of goods along the main road link between the interior of Russia and Finland.
The Bank will also finance a 143-km section of the main transcontinental route between Chita and Khabarovsk in the Far East Region.
Known as the Amur road and running almost parallel to the TranSiberian railway - at present the only overland link between this remote area and the rest of Russia - the project should help develop the Far East region along the Chinese border, where substantial mineral deposits are located.
Funding for technical aspects of these projects has been provided through support from the European Union and Canada, as well as bilateral programmes of Denmark and Sweden. These donors are providing additional support for a broader reform of the Russian road sector, particularly in the areas of safety and financing.
The loan agreement was signed in London by His Excellency Gregoriy Karasin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Kingdom, and by Mr Lemierre.
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