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A number of road facilities are being launched. Among them are the Vitebsk interchange in St Petersburg, a high-speed access road to the Crimean Bridge, bypasses of Malye Vyazyomy village and the cities of Nizhnekamsk and Naberezhnye Chelny as well as five towns in the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Several airport facilities are ready for launch, namely three new terminals at the airports in Stavropol, Magadan and Cheboksary.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, colleagues.

Today is Sunday, a day-off yet we have convened to launch a number of new air and road infrastructure facilities in Russia. We can call it a celebration event. It is another testament to the fact that the transport framework of our country and our regions is progressing steadily and continuously.

I thank all the specialists involved in solving these momentous tasks for their tremendous efforts and professionalism.

We have achieved a high rate of construction of the road network and major motorways. Last year, for example, a section of the modern M-12 motorway from Moscow to Kazan went into operation. This road has proved to be much needed. In total, it has been used by more than 26 million motorists and has carried more than 70 million tonnes of freight.

We will continue to extend this important motorway, as planned, towards Yekaterinburg, Tyumen and further east. Today, an 80-km bypass of Nizhnekamsk and Naberezhnye Chelny as part of that motorway, as well as a 65-km bypass of several settlements in the Republic of Bashkortostan are launched. These bypasses will take transit traffic out of the cities and towns, make travel safer and will positively affect people’s quality of life and their ecological well-being. In addition, a road bypass of the village of Malye Vyazyomy is being launched in the Moscow Region. It will “lock” the Central Ring Road at a new level and will ease traffic in its bottleneck.

Another facility is a 120-km high-speed access road to the Crimean Bridge in the Krasnodar Territory which will connect the Don and Tavrida motorways. It will ensure a seamless traffic without traffic lights from St Petersburg via Moscow, Krasnodar and Simferopol down to Sevastopol. It means transport accessibility of southern Russia resorts will improve which is particularly important for holiday seasons.

Also, the Vitebsk interchange is launched in St Petersburg. It will be the first step in building a promising Latitudinal motorway and will make it possible for city residents to choose more convenient routes.

As I have said, a great deal has been done in road building over the past few years. Over 150,000 kilometres of roads have been built and renovated within the Safe and High-Quality Roads project over the past six years. By the end of this year, the share of roads in large urban agglomerations will reach the target figure of 85 percent. It is a good result.

The share of regional roads that meet the approved standards will reach 54 percent, or 4 percent above the plan.

Under the new Infrastructure for Life project, we will continue to renovate our road network, eliminating so-called bottlenecks and issues and creating a more comfortable living environment in Russian cities and towns, including in the historical territories which have reunited with Russia. During the latest news conference, which you probably watched, I spoke about a major project to build a modern motorway around the Sea of Azov, which has become Russia's internal sea.

Other priorities include the further development of passenger transportation by air. As I said on numerous occasions, we must more energetically build up direct air transportation within and between regions, renovate regional airports and airfields.

Today, we are making yet another step towards this goal by opening three new modern terminals in the airports of Stavropol, Magadan and Cheboksary.

Of course, there is a lot to be done yet in this sphere. A concrete task has been formulated for the Government: to modernise the infrastructure of at least 74 airports, which constitute more than a third of Russia’s airport network, within six years. We will allocate at least 250 billion rubles of direct budget funding for this purpose. As the result, the air traffic load in Russia should increase by 50 percent in 2030 compared to 2023.

In conclusion, I would like to once again thank the construction workers, bridge builders, engineers, designers and many other professionals who worked on the projects we are launching today. I would like to emphasise the smooth cooperation between the federal Government and regional authorities.

I with you every success and all the best.

Let us begin.

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