Construction of rail track to Kerch Strait Bridge to begin this year
The construction company, Stroygazmontazh, which is owned by Russian billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, has agreed to build railway accessibility to the Crimean bridge from the peninsula. The construction is supposed to begin this year, as reported by the Minister of Transportation of Russia, Maksim Sokolov.
“Yes, they (Stroygazmontazh) expressed their intent to complete this project. We have sent the necessary documents to the Government. They will start construction this year,” RIA Krym reported, citing the Russian Minister.
According to him, there is plenty of time to complete the construction.
Arkady Rotenberg’s company, Stroygazmontazh, won the contract for the construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait in February 2015. The project is contracted to cost more than 228 billion rubles (38 million US dollars).
Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated the necessity of the construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait immediately after the annexation of the Crimea in March 2014. The bridge is planned to be constructed by 2018 and put into operation in summer 2019.
In early July, the Crimean Bridge Information Center reported that the total cost of the construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait from Russia to the Crimea will be 227.92 billion ruble (38 million USD).
Before that it was reported that the Government of Russia had postponed the temporary operations of the railway part of the bridge across the Kerch Strait for one year, from December 2018 to December 2019.
Ukraine withdrew from the treaty with Russia on the construction of the bridge in 2014 after the annexation of the Crimea by Russia.