Russian Gov't to finance three ferries construction for the Baltiysk–Ust-Luga route
The Russian Government Prime Mnister Dmitry Medvedev on the results of the meeting on the expenditures of the federal budget three-year period charged responsible agencies with several tasks. According to the Kaliningrad region Governor's and government's press office, the Russian Ministry of Finance was ordered to include in the draft federal budget for 2018 year and for the 2019-2020 planned period RUB 5.1 billion for the construction and operation of three ferries for the Baltiysk – Ust-Luga route, as the transport system of the Kaliningrad region needs the new ferry service.
The Russian Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Communications were also charged with the task to allocate RUB 6.2 billion for the construction of a separate fiber-optic communication line on the main territory of Russia along the seabed of the Baltic Sea. The implementation of this project will significantly improve the information security of the region, as well as provide the residents of the region with a reliable communication channel, including access to the Internet.
In addition, the Ministry of Transport of Russia together with state-owned rail operator RZD were ordered to develop the financing plan for the construction of rail access to the Pinonersky international sea terminal for handling cruise ships and RoRo-passenger vessels.
Commenting on the results of the meeting, Anton Alikhanov, Acting Governor of the Kaliningrad region noted that he had to hold a number of meetings and negotiations with the federal executive authorities to push for the projects.
"We in the government of the Kaliningrad region are grateful to colleagues from federal executive bodies for the volume of joint work that has been done. This was a rather difficult but productive period of negotiations, feasibility and arguments. For our part, we showed firmness and perseverance, and as a result we were able to agree on the necessary volume of federal funding for projects that are so necessary for our region," the official was quoted as saying.
