Moscow’s new ring road will provide a major economic boost and tackle congestion - Eugene Gerdner writes
The Russian Government has officially started building the Central Ring Road (CRR), one of the largest infrastructural projects in the modern history of the country. Total volume of investments in the project is estimated at more than US$7.2 billion (300 billion RUB).
Building of the road should be completed by the World Cup in 2018 and will be carried out as part of the existing state program ‘The development of Transport System in Russia during the period of 2010-2020’.
It is planned that the first section of the road will be a length of 49.5km. It will have two lanes in each direction. Sergey Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow and one of the main initiators of the project, commented, “The new road will be built by 2018. Implementation of the project will provide an opportunity to rethink the development of the entire metropolitan region, which is a home to tens of millions of people. This hyper-project currently remains one of priority projects for the Russian government for the next several years.”
The initiative for the implementation of the project was for the first time forwarded as far back as 2004. The new road, which is known as the A113 highway, was initially designed as an intersection of international transport corridors. In addition, it should help to solve several problems of the Moscow region, and in particular to redirect freight transport flow around and out of the city. It will also establish transport links between the towns of the Moscow region and neighbouring regions.
It is planned that implementation of the project will involve building several large logistics centres along the road. In 2010, implementation of the project was entrusted to The State Company Russian Highways (3974 Avtodor), Russia’s leading state infrastructure and highway service company. According to initial plans of the Moscow Government, building of the road was to have started in early 2011, but was suspended several times. However, preparations for the project accelerated after Russia was awarded the World Cup 2018.
It is planned that of the total volume of investments of $7.2 billion (RUB 300 billion), about $3.6 billion (RUB 150 billion) for the project will be provided from the National Welfare Fund, Russia's largest sovereign wealth fund. At the same time about $1.76 billion (RUB 73.8 billion) will be provided from the federal budget, while the remaining $123.4 million (RUB 5.2 billion) will be accounted by direct loans. Finally, the remaining $1.68 billion (RUB 70.8 billion) will be provided by private investors. In the latter case, there is a possibility that part of the funds for the project will be provided by Chinese investors and in particular by some leading Chinese investment banks.
The new road will be classified in the A1 category with the design speed of 150km/h and an overall length of 525km. It will pass at a distance of 20-86km from the Moscow Ring Road, a ring road encircling the city of Moscow. It will act as an expanded relief road of the Moscow Small Ring Road (A107 highway), which passes through Noginsk, Elektrostal, Bronnitsy, Domodedovo Seliatino and other towns of the Moscow region.
This will be a toll road with lower rates for passenger cars and higher rates for trucks, while the charge will also depend on the time of the day. The first phase of the project involves building of two sections of the road, and in particular the first and the fifth sections between the M4 ‘Don’ and M10 Moscow- Saint Petersburg road. Building of the first section of the project will be carried out by Stroygazkonsalting, one of Russia’s largest construction and engineering companies. The value of the contract is estimated at $1.56 billion (RUB 48.8 billion). At the same time a tender for the building of the fifth section of the road will be completed by the end of the current year.
There is also a possibility that tenders for the building of the third and the fourth sections of the road will be also organised by the end of the current year.
Finally, according to sources close to Avtodor, a tender for the building of the second section of the road will be completed at the beginning of 2015. The latter section will be positioned as a relief road for the Moscow Big Ring Road (A108), another Ring Road in the Moscow region, which has a total length of more than 550km.
According to sources in the Moscow government, building of the second section of the road is considered as a separate project, which will be implemented after 2020. According to a spokeperson, this will be the first section of a new road, and construction will be started after the exhaustion of resources of the Central Ring Road.
In the meantime, leading Russian analysts in the field of road building have already welcomed the new project. According to Mikhail Blinkin, Director of the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy of Higher School of Economics (HSE), one of Russia’s leading universities in the field of economics, implementation of the project is associated with minimal risks, also due to the existence of unoccupied land outside the city, which is very expensive within the Moscow boundaries.
Practically the same opinion is shared by Sergey Nastin, a senior editor of Za Rulem, one of Russia’s leading automotive magazines. He said, "The Central Ring Road is the most ambitious and expensive road project in the history of the Moscow region. The city’s authorities consider it as one of the ways of the solution of problems of traffic jams in the Moscow Ring Road, hoping that it will be able to attract some part of transit traffic, and will create conditions for further business development of the region, due to the plans of the Moscow city government for a massive building of large-scale enterprises, business centres and other infrastructure along the road.”
At the same time, despite the optimism of officials, the new project has become a subject of criticism by ecologists. According to Alexey Yaroshenko, an official spokerperson of2499 Greenpeace Russia, building of the new road may have a negative impact on the ecosystem of the Moscow region. He said its building will result in the development of all the associated adjacent infrastructure, which may pose a threat to Moscow's forests.
According to him, building of the new road may also provide a signal for intensive construction of the territory between the Central Ring Road and Moscow Ring Road, which will make a huge metropolis with a diameter of 12km with poor living conditions for local citizens. Implementation of the project could also result in the increase of prices for housing in the region.
At the same time some analysts from the Russian Ministry of Transport have already warned that implementation of the project might be suspended in the case of further deterioration of the economic situation in Russia, caused by the recent imposition of sanctions, and associated with the devaluation of the ruble.
According to them, there is a possibility that the country’s federal budget may face a shortage of funds in the near future. It is planned that in the case of further sanctions, in addition to the Central Ring Road, among other projects that may face suspension is the building of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and Trans-Siberian Railway.
The Russian Government has officially started building the Central Ring Road (CRR), one of the largest infrastructural projects in the modern history of the country. Total volume of investments in the project is estimated at more than US$7.2 billion (300 billion RUB).
Building of the road should be completed by the World Cup in 2018 and will be carried out as part of the existing state program ‘The development of Transport System in Russia during the period of 2010-2020’.
It is planned that the first section of the road will be a length of 49.5km. It will have two lanes in each direction. Sergey Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow and one of the main initiators of the project, commented, “The new road will be built by 2018. Implementation of the project will provide an opportunity to rethink the development of the entire metropolitan region, which is a home to tens of millions of people. This hyper-project currently remains one of priority projects for the Russian government for the next several years.”
The initiative for the implementation of the project was for the first time forwarded as far back as 2004. The new road, which is known as the A113 highway, was initially designed as an intersection of international transport corridors. In addition, it should help to solve several problems of the Moscow region, and in particular to redirect freight transport flow around and out of the city. It will also establish transport links between the towns of the Moscow region and neighbouring regions.
It is planned that implementation of the project will involve building several large logistics centres along the road. In 2010, implementation of the project was entrusted to The State Company Russian Highways (
It is planned that of the total volume of investments of $7.2 billion (RUB 300 billion), about $3.6 billion (RUB 150 billion) for the project will be provided from the National Welfare Fund, Russia's largest sovereign wealth fund. At the same time about $1.76 billion (RUB 73.8 billion) will be provided from the federal budget, while the remaining $123.4 million (RUB 5.2 billion) will be accounted by direct loans. Finally, the remaining $1.68 billion (RUB 70.8 billion) will be provided by private investors. In the latter case, there is a possibility that part of the funds for the project will be provided by Chinese investors and in particular by some leading Chinese investment banks.
The new road will be classified in the A1 category with the design speed of 150km/h and an overall length of 525km. It will pass at a distance of 20-86km from the Moscow Ring Road, a ring road encircling the city of Moscow. It will act as an expanded relief road of the Moscow Small Ring Road (A107 highway), which passes through Noginsk, Elektrostal, Bronnitsy, Domodedovo Seliatino and other towns of the Moscow region.
This will be a toll road with lower rates for passenger cars and higher rates for trucks, while the charge will also depend on the time of the day. The first phase of the project involves building of two sections of the road, and in particular the first and the fifth sections between the M4 ‘Don’ and M10 Moscow- Saint Petersburg road. Building of the first section of the project will be carried out by Stroygazkonsalting, one of Russia’s largest construction and engineering companies. The value of the contract is estimated at $1.56 billion (RUB 48.8 billion). At the same time a tender for the building of the fifth section of the road will be completed by the end of the current year.
There is also a possibility that tenders for the building of the third and the fourth sections of the road will be also organised by the end of the current year.
Finally, according to sources close to Avtodor, a tender for the building of the second section of the road will be completed at the beginning of 2015. The latter section will be positioned as a relief road for the Moscow Big Ring Road (A108), another Ring Road in the Moscow region, which has a total length of more than 550km.
According to sources in the Moscow government, building of the second section of the road is considered as a separate project, which will be implemented after 2020. According to a spokeperson, this will be the first section of a new road, and construction will be started after the exhaustion of resources of the Central Ring Road.
In the meantime, leading Russian analysts in the field of road building have already welcomed the new project. According to Mikhail Blinkin, Director of the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy of Higher School of Economics (HSE), one of Russia’s leading universities in the field of economics, implementation of the project is associated with minimal risks, also due to the existence of unoccupied land outside the city, which is very expensive within the Moscow boundaries.
Practically the same opinion is shared by Sergey Nastin, a senior editor of Za Rulem, one of Russia’s leading automotive magazines. He said, "The Central Ring Road is the most ambitious and expensive road project in the history of the Moscow region. The city’s authorities consider it as one of the ways of the solution of problems of traffic jams in the Moscow Ring Road, hoping that it will be able to attract some part of transit traffic, and will create conditions for further business development of the region, due to the plans of the Moscow city government for a massive building of large-scale enterprises, business centres and other infrastructure along the road.”
At the same time, despite the optimism of officials, the new project has become a subject of criticism by ecologists. According to Alexey Yaroshenko, an official spokerperson of
According to him, building of the new road may also provide a signal for intensive construction of the territory between the Central Ring Road and Moscow Ring Road, which will make a huge metropolis with a diameter of 12km with poor living conditions for local citizens. Implementation of the project could also result in the increase of prices for housing in the region.
At the same time some analysts from the Russian Ministry of Transport have already warned that implementation of the project might be suspended in the case of further deterioration of the economic situation in Russia, caused by the recent imposition of sanctions, and associated with the devaluation of the ruble.
According to them, there is a possibility that the country’s federal budget may face a shortage of funds in the near future. It is planned that in the case of further sanctions, in addition to the Central Ring Road, among other projects that may face suspension is the building of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and Trans-Siberian Railway.
