A kilometer underground
A competition for construction of St. Petersburg's Orlovski Tunnel, which is to link the two banks of the Neva river nearby Orlovskaya street and Piskaryovski prospect, will be announced on September 12th. According to experts, once the Orlovski Tunnel is put into operation the capacity of the Volga-Baltic canal will increase 1.2 times (or by 3 million tonnes of cargo) throughout navigation.
In a line to pass the bridge
In early September, St. Petersburg Government decreed that a concession agreement on construction of the Orlovski Tunnel under the Neva river should be signed. According to Maxim Sokolov, Chairman of the Committee on Investments and Strategic Projects under St. Petersburg Government, the tunnel’s daily capacity is to be some 60,000 cars. According to preliminary estimates, the fare may total RUR 23 for passenger cars and RUR 45 for trucks. As for shipping companies operating at the Volga-Baltic waterway, they will be able to raise transportation volumes considerably.
In navigation 2006, total volume of cargo transported by the Volga-Baltic waterway fell to 17.6 million tonnes, while a year ago it amounted to 18.3 million tonnes of timber, metal, oil products, fertilizers, construction materials etc. The highest decrease fell on oil products: in 2006, transportation of oil products declined over 2-fold, year-on-year – to 2.5 million tonnes against 5.5 million tonnes in 2005.
Experts attribute the fall of cargo flows to technical state of internal waterways and to deficit of river-going vessels as well as to passage of vessels under St. Petersburg’s draw bridges. Today the passage is limited by the draw schedule. Sometimes vessels have to wait for 5-6 days.
Alternative
One of the ways to raise the capacity of St. Petersburg’s sector of the Volga-Baltic waterway is to build an under-river tunnel, which is to take part of the bridges’ load. The city’s first under-river tunnel will make it possible to prolong the draw-bridge period so that more vessels could pass the Neva river. Experts say the tunnel is to raise the capacity of Volga-Baltic waterway by 1.2 times.
As PortNews IAA learnt at the office of Yuri Molchanov, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg, the Orlovski Tunnel project will be implemented according to the principles of public-private partnership. The majority of costs will be covered by the state while 33% of the project’s total value is to be financed in the form of investments. The project is said to cost RUR 26,360.7 million. Under the agreement, the concessioner's competence is design, construction, financing and he agreement is to be valid for 30 years from its conclusion with a payback period of 26 years from the start of its operation.
The construction is to last for some 3 years till 2011. The delivery of the first phase is scheduled for late August 2008. By this time first cars will go by the tunnel. The second and the third phases will be finalized by 2009-2010. During this period motor crossroads are to be built at both banks of the Neva river.
“The representatives of Molchanov’s office say the Orlovski Tunnel is very important for St. Petersburg. "The city needed such a project to link the Neva’s banks and to ensure direct approach to the city’s ringway and the Northern thoroughfare,” the source said. Today, the cable bridge built two years ago is the city’s only round-the-clock crossing over the Neva. The bridge located at the city’s outskirts is a part of St. Petersburg Moreover it is to be built in the center of the city. ringway. The new tunnel is to become not the second round-the-clock crossing over the river. It will operate 24 hours even during the summer navigation period.
The shortlist is to be announced on December 21, 2007, while final results will be clear by June 2008, when economic forum will be held in St. Petersburg. As of today, about ten Russian and foreign companies expressed their interest in the project. Some 5 construction consortiums are likely to participate in the competition. In early October, the project’s presentation is to be held in Frankfurt in order to attract foreign investors.
Information:
The Orlovski Tunnel, which is to link the two banks of the Neva river nearby Orlovskaya street and Piskaryovski prospect is one of Russia’s first PPP projects to be implemented under concession agreement in compliance with the Federal Law on Concession Agreements. The Tunnel’s length is some 1,000 meters, capacity – up to 60,000 cars per day. The project is aimed at development of Russia’s transport infrastructure through improvement of the capacity of the Volga-Baltic waterway and creation of a link between the city’s center and major outside roads of St. Petersburg.