Vladimir Putin and Rustam Minnikhanov take part in opening of the M-12 “East” highway

On 21 December the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhamov, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government Marat Khusnullin, the Chairman of the Avtodor Company Board Vyacheslav Petushenko and heads of regions took part in launching traffic on the speed highway M12 “East”.

Welcoming participants of the event, Vladimir Putin stated that the 800 kilometers long new highway makes it possible to get from Moscow to Kazan only in 6.5 hours, cutting the travelling time nearly twice.

“Trips in this direction will become more comfortable and safer. The amount of freight transportation will increase and the domestic tourism will get a good impetus. The highway goes through Moscow, Vladimir and Nizhniy Novgorod regions and Chuvashia and Tatarstan and there is no doubt it will raise their investment attractiveness, facilitate creation of new jobs, construction of living houses, establishment and development of companies in industry, agriculture, logistics and services,” the Head of the state said. 

Marat Khusnullin attracted attention to the fact that never before in history of Russia have such infrastructural facility been built in such a short period of time as the Moscow-Kazan M-12 section was constructed just in three years. He stated that due to the new highway the freight transportation between Moscow and the Urals will grow up to 50m tonnes and the revenues from the M-12 into the GDP of the country will exceed 1.8 trillion rubles. 

He also informed Vladimir Putin about an initiative from Tatarstan to connect M-5 and M-7 highways, the first section of which will be already launched in the middle of next year. 

Rustam Minnikhanov thanked Vladimir Putin, Marat Khusnullin and the Russian Government for implementation of such a large scale project. “The length of the seventh and eighth sections of the highway in the republic makes 142 kilometers, including 67 artificial road facilities and a bridge across the Volga which is more than 3.3 kilometers long," he said.

Rustam Minnikhanov told that he personally tested the hew highway by driving the Aurus manufactured in the republic across the bridge above the Volga. When driving, he evaluated the road cover quality and made several stops to check the roadside furniture such as pumping stations and catering facilities.

The construction of the M-12 highway is carried out within the national project “Transport Infrastructure Modernization” which was initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2019.

In 2024 it is planned to build the section of the M-12 till Yekatrinburg and in 2025 – till Tyumen. The federal highway M-12 with the total length of 1 980 kilometers is one of the main participants of the international transport corridor “Russia”.