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A number of road facilities are being launched, including the Vitebsk intersection 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 gathered to launch a number of new air and road infrastructure facilities in Russia. We can call it a celebratory event. It is yet 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 important tasks for their tremendous efforts and professionalism.

We have achieved a high pace of developing road network and major motorways. Last year, for example, a section of the modern M12 motorway from Moscow to Kazan was put 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 further develop this important motorway, as planned, towards Yekaterinburg, Tyumen and further east. Today, we are launching an 80-km bypass of Nizhnekamsk and Naberezhnye Chelny in the Republic of Tatarstan as part of that motorway, as well as a 65-km bypass of several settlements in the Republic of Bashkortostan. These bypasses will take transit traffic out of the cities and towns, make travel safer and will have a positive impact on 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 “close the loop” of the Central Ring Road at a new level and will improve traffic flow at its bottleneck.

Another new 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 all the way to Sevastopol. It means transport accessibility of resorts in the south of Russia will improve which is particularly important for holiday seasons.

Also, the Vitebsk intersection is being 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 terms of road construction over the past few years. More than 150,000 kilometres of roads have been built and renovated under the Safe and High-Quality Roads project over the past six years. By the end of this year, the share of roads in major urban agglomerations brought up to standard 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, which is four percent above the plan.

Under the new Infrastructure for Life project, we will continue to renovate our road network, eliminating so-called traffic congestions and bottlenecks, 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 development of air passenger transportation. As I have said on numerous occasions, we must be more active in expanding direct air transportation within and between regions, renovating 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 still a lot to be done in this sphere. A concrete task has been set for the Government: to ugrade infrastructure of at least 75 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 half by 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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