The prime-minister of the Russian Federation Dmitriy Medvedev signed a decree about appointment of the company Stroygazmontazh as the main contractor of the bridge construction over the Kerch Strait. It is reported by UNIAN referring to the Russian Komersant.
However, the company’s chairman, general contractor and billionaire Arkadiy Rotenberg calls the bridge his last big project. Rothenberg admits that it will become a “black mark” and complete isolation from the West.
Today the appropriate order of the Russian government regarding the appointment should be published, newspaper’s sources informed.
It was known about the preparation of this order since the middle of the month but still on January 21 the vice-prime minister Dmitry Kozak, who directs the project, said that decision about the main contractor had not been approved.
As Roterberg said, there is no detailed documentation of the project yet, its final cost still wasn’t defined. Since the middle of autumn, RUR 228.3 billion have been mentioned as an approximate cost and the businessman calls this sum a real one, although he emphasizes that it can be changed. Arkadiy Rotenberg promises to sustain the term till the end of 2018 that the president Vladimir Putin talked about, however, sources of “Ъ”, which are familiar with the project, think that some delays will be unavoidable.
The occupation authorities officially announced about the construction of the bridge in March 2014. Selection of the main contractor was not easy. Rotenberg says that the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation considered “more than 70 proposals” but besides Stroygazmontazh, only one possible contractor was known, it was Stroytransgaz that belongs to Gennadiy Timchenko, who officially abandoned the project in the beginning of December.
Arkadiy Rotenberg admits that the project is very important but it is a challenge for him.
