As the “Minister for Crimean Affairs” Oleg Saveliev reports, large infrastructure projects planned as part of the federal target program for the development of Crimea and Sevastopol can be postponed for several years, RBC informs.
In particular, it is planned to defer the construction of motorways in the peninsula to a later date.
“We will put large-scale highways into operation a little later than we planned, because they are quite capital-intensive, and time-frames of putting into service is likely to be postponed within the limitations existing in the budget,” Saveliev said.
Implementation plans of other large projects can be also postponed for a long period. The construction deadlines will be determined closer to 2020. In particular, it is the construction of the Evpatoria highway and access to the north up to the border and through Dzhankoy and Krasnoperekopsk.
Saveliev emphasized that it is necessary to solve vital tasks at the present time. Thus, for example, they discuss the issue of faster cable installation through the Kerch Strait in order to provide energy independence of the peninsula from Ukraine within the shortest possible period of time.
“If we provide a cross flow of about 450 megawatts through the Kerch Strait, it will allow us to feel ourselves more confident,” the Russian official said.
He also clarified that funding of this project should be advanced from 2016-2017 to 2015 and that will be the subject of one of the next meeting of the Russian government.
As reference, in August 2014 the government of the Russian Federation approved the federal target program “Social and economic development of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol until 2020” with total funding of 680 billion rubles. 94 billion rubles are provided for in the budget of the Russian Federation for implementation of the program in 2015.
As a reminder, it was allocated 124, 7 billion rubles (at the NBU exchange rate for March 16 – 44, 325 billion UAH) from the Russian budget within the year after the annexation.
