Russian Transport Ministry Expects Funding Of $13.6Bln For Northern Sea Route In 2019-2024

Sumaira FH Published January 23, 2019 | 07:37 PM

The Russian Ministry of Transport expects to receive 900 billion rubles ($13.6 billion) in investments for the development of the Northern Sea Route, the Russian part of the Northeast Passage, between now and 2024, with state investments to account for one-third of this total, Deputy Minister of Transport Yuriy Tsvetkov said on Wednesday

BAGAYEVSKAYA ,(UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) - The Russian Ministry of Transport expects to receive 900 billion rubles ($13.6 billion) in investments for the development of the Northern Sea Route, the Russian part of the Northeast Passage, between now and 2024, with state investments to account for one-third of this total, Deputy Minister of Transport Yuriy Tsvetkov said on Wednesday.

"The planned volume [of investment] is around 900 billion rubles. It is for six years. It is hard to give a forecast as several companies have not yet made their investment decisions, and a large part of the projects [will be financed] with non-budgetary capital. Budgetary [capital] will only account to one-third [of the total amount]," Tsvetkov said.

On January 21, Russian media reported that the Russian Agency for Maritime and River Transport had prepared a new plan to implement the Northern Sea Route project.

According to the road map, the development and maintenance of the Northeast Passage in 2019-2024 will require 905.6 billion rubles. The Russian government will provide 305 billion rubles, while the remaining funds will come from private investors. Additional state funding required for the project in 2019-2021 is estimated at 139.5 billion rubles.

The plan to develop the Russian part of the Northeast Passage, the shipping route along the Arctic coasts of Norway and Russia, includes several large-scale projects, such as modernizing sea and land infrastructure and building an icebreaker fleet. The route is expected to become a shorter alternative to the passage through the Suez Canal that is commonly used nowadays to deliver cargo from Asian ports to Europe.