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Transport Minister Roman Starovoit: I would like to report on the performance of our transport complex and our plans until 2030.

Like the rest of the country, we are focused on the special military operation. That is why we are working to ensure the smooth and safe operation of the national transport system. Of course, we also take part in humanitarian missions, regularly sending aid to our forces on the battlefront, to the new regions and to the people living in the border areas. Our task in this context is to ensure effective use of the substantial funds, which the Government is allocating to our system as per your instructions. As usual, our cash execution of the budget is around 100 percent.

Regarding motorways, we are also working in the new regions. We have completed a 10-kilometre section of a four-lane motorway in the Donetsk People’s Republic. We have opened a bypass road around Tver, which is more than 62 kilometres long, to traffic, which was a much-anticipated event that finished the construction of the new M-11 Moscow−St Petersburg Motorway. We have also completed another major project – an 11-kilometre bypass road around the town of Oktyabrsky on the M-5 Urals Motorway as part of your instructions on the construction of bypass roads.

We have invested approximately 3 trillion rubles in the construction of motorways since 2022.

As for aviation, we have finished the construction of the apron and auxiliary infrastructure at Yelizovo Airport in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Vladimir Putin: What about Tomsk?

Roman Starovoit: We are building a new 3.6-kilometre-long runway in Yakutsk and new terminals in Tomsk, Stavropol, Ulan-Ude and Magadan. These are major facilities, which are very important for our people.

Despite problems with maintaining our aircraft fleet, we have better results to report than in 2023.

Now, to the railways. Of course, our task is not only to build new lines but also rail terminal infrastructure. We have rebuilt the railway station in Mariupol and completed the second line on the Kuanda-Kuandinsky stretch of the BAM-2 project.

I consider it symbolic that a concession agreement on the high-speed Moscow–St Petersburg line was signed on the 50th anniversary of the BAM Line. It is an extremely complicated project but we are so far proceeding on schedule. I was instructed by the Government to head the design office, which is why I believe that we will finish that project on time.

Passenger traffic: As I reported to you earlier, we transported 688,500 children in groups during the summer holidays. This figure is also higher than in 2023. The Russian Government has allocated nearly 17 billion rubles to support passengers travelling in open-type carriages (sleeping and sitting). This service enjoys high demand, so we plan to continue in the same vein.

We see growth in container traffic, including containers from the Far Eastern Federal District. Mr President, since you keep this issue under your personal review, we, too, pay special attention to it. The Russian Ministry of Transport and Russian Railways are working together from a joint headquarters on a daily basis.

Sea transport: This year, we opened a coal terminal in Primorye, and upgraded berth No. 2 of the Murmansk Commercial Sea Port. The first port facility began operation in Pionersky, Kaliningrad Region – the first start-up phase of the new marine terminal. This is a very important facility that should increase both passenger transport and ferry transport of motor vehicles.

River transport: I wanted to consult with you later, but in general, we have largely eliminated bottlenecks in the Yenisei, Moscow, Volga and Ob-Irtysh basins with a total length of 1,756 kilometres. This has increased river transport by 13.5 percent to 10 million passengers. Overall, we have 101,000 kilometres of river thoroughfares, which makes Russia second in the world by waterway length.

Border checkpoints are a very important part of our work, which you also keep under review. The Yarag-Kazmalyar checkpoint in Dagestan has been put into operation; a very complex engineering facility with 39 lanes has been completed in Verkhny Lars on the Georgian border; and checkpoints have been installed in our new regions. We have significantly enhanced our capabilities for inspecting passing vehicles. The total capacity of Russia-Azerbaijan border crossing points has grown fivefold in recent years; Russia-China and Russia-Georgia checkpoints’ capacity have doubled. Your instruction to cut the inspection time to 10 minutes by 2030 will be fulfilled. An additional 150 billion rubles have been allocated for these purposes following the Prime Minister’s instructions.

According to opinion polls, Russians have the highest awareness of the Safe and High-Quality Roads national project, and we are clearly on track. I would like to say a little later that it is going to transform into a new national project, Infrastructure for Life. We have already done a great deal of work with the Government in this regard.

The current project envisions a major upgrade of public transport. This will include new buses, trolleybuses, and trams. New public transport certainly changes the image of our cities, but above all, it improves the convenience and safety of passengers who use public transport.

In keeping with your executive order, we have drawn up two national projects for the period until 2030. The Effective Transport System will include nine federal projects. The Infrastructure for Life national project, as far as the Ministry of Transport is concerned, will incorporate, as I said, the Safe and Quality Roads project. This has been structured and coordinated. A total of over 9 trillion rubles will be allocated for these two national projects until 2030. So, thank you very much for this support.

It goes without saying that it is impossible to carry out such extensive work unless we have reliable personnel. Therefore, a federal project aimed at developing the personnel potential in the transport industry is being approved for the first time. I would like to report that the Ministry of Transport oversees 19 universities, along with branches, with a student body of over 500,000. I want to thank you for signing the Executive Order awarding the Admiral Ushakov Maritime State University in Novorossiysk the Order of Maritime Merit. Thank you very much.

I also wanted to ask for your advice, Mr President.

Vladimir Putin: I have a question. The rail transport is functioning well, but the loadings are somewhat inadequate. How do you explain this?

Roman Starovoit: The volume of loading has declined by 4 percent. However, we also saw a 5-percent decline, which is worse than we anticipated. There are several reasons for this, both subjective and objective. We are working on this jointly with Russian Railways, consignors, and car operators. It is a very difficult task. I work on it practically every day. The Ministry of Transport has established an emergency task force jointly with Russian Railways and carriers.

Vladimir Putin: All right.

Roman Starovoit: I wanted to ask for your advice. I supervise all types of transport, of course, but we have noted that river transport has been undeservedly neglected since the late 1990s. Meanwhile, it is in high demand, especially for passenger and inter-regional carriage. Therefore, I wanted to ask for your advice and report that we have drawn up the River Thoroughfares project. It has five stages until 2030, and is focused on the Volga-Kama area. We are inviting Russian regions and providing them support to test the routes.

Vladimir Putin: There is much potential in this.

Roman Starovoit: There is significant potential. But it has been unfairly sidelined. This year, we are allocating about 150 million rubles to carriers in pilot regions for subsidised routes.

Apart from passenger traffic, we are focusing on whether the regions have piers. We are planning to sign agreements with regions that are interested in implementing this project. It is also necessary to carry out dredging works. We have bought 18 dredgers. We are building the Bagayevsky water scheme on the Don River and the Gorodets floodgates on the Volga. And, of course, river transport should cater both for passengers and freight. If calculated in tonne-kilometres, approximately the same amount of freight is carried by the entire road freight transport fleet during a season. Therefore, there is substantial potential in this regard, and I would like to ask for your support in focusing on this project with the Government and returning to you with proposals.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you.

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