Rustam Minnikhanov: Tatarstan is an economically developed region so development of roads is a priority

On 28 April the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin and the Head of the Federal Road Agency Roman Novikov took part in a meeting of the Presidium (Headquarters) of the Governmental Commission of regional development held at the Kazan Expo during the scientific and applied conference organized by the Rosavtodor (Federal Road Agency) on the topic of efficient approaches to implementation of road management in Russian entities. 

Speaking at the meeting, Rustam Minnikhanov told about the development of the road infrastructure in the republic including the Ground control highways:

In particular he informed that the road network in the republic is more than 40 thousand kilometers with the ongoing development and modernization of road facilities. He informed about large scale federal projects such as the construction of M-12 and Kazan-Yekaterinburg highways, and construction of the Alekseevskoye – Almetyevsk highway PPP project, the implementation of which will create new logistics routes connecting the republic with regions on the Volga, Central Russia and the Urals and will give an additional impetus to the development of interregional cooperation under the sanctions limitations.

Rustam Minnikahnov said that during the meeting headed by Marat Khusnullin every region will have the possibility to defend and finance important regional projects, such as the construction of Vosnesenskiy Trakt (highroad) and reconstruction of Gorky highway carried out in the Kazan agglomeration and financed from the budget and infrastructural budgetary loan. 

He also informed that the length of the Ground control highways in the republic  is more than 2 600 kilometers and as Tatarstan is an economically developed republic, the industrial production volume of which exceeded  4.6 trillion rubles last year, the development of roads is of primary importance.

Rustam Minnikhanov also spoke about the importance of roads work quality and completion schedules, using innovational materials to prolong the life cycle of roads and construction sphere, including infrastructural facilities such as filling stations, recreation areas into feasibility studies when designing a road as this will provide comfortable environment for drivers and passengers and give new possibilities for SMEs development.

He said that Tatarstan attaches great attention to local roads and for ten years already has been repairing street and road network, rural streets with pedestrian crosswalks and access to children’s camps, small farms, cattle breeding complexes and gardeners' partnerships. Such approach makes it possible to build and repair no less than 700 kilometers of roads in rural territories and improve quality of life of 930 000 rural residents, Rustam Minnikhanov said.

It is very important to take into consideration interests of rural residents when developing federal road programs as this is the necessary prerequisite for providing food security of our country, he concluded.

In his turn Marat Khusnullin said that the country has brought into order 50 per cent of regional roads, which makes about 500 thousand kilometers “At the same time this indicator in Tatarstan has reached 80 % as compared to those who even has not started dealing with this issue. There is another important sector of municipal roads as they mean much for every resident and every settlement. We have more than 1m kilometers of such roads and this is the main issue to deal with, he said. 

Marat Khusnulin paid special attention to the development of “The North – the South” transport corridor as partners of Russia from Islamic countries are interested in this project.  

In conclusion he named regions which were most successful in implementation of the Safe and Quality Roads projects in 2022, with Tatarstan becoming one of its leaders.