Putin green-lights €1.1bn bridge to world's coldest city

Rostec, the Russian state and defence corporation, and VIS Group, one of Russia's biggest infrastructure holding companies, has been given approval by President Vladimir Putin to build a bridge across the River Lena in the Yakutia Republic in Siberia.

The region's capital, Yakutsk, is the world's coldest city, with winter lows of -42°C, and is also the capital of the country's lucrative diamond mining industry. It remains the only major Russian city that does not have year-round ground transport access to the federal road network with no stable communication for around 152 days a year.

Head of the Yakutia Republic, Aisen Nikolaev, said that the new bridge will connect the region's transport highways, tripling the volume of freight traffic, as well as providing a vital shortcut through Eastern Siberia to the ports of the Sea of Okhotsk via the transport corridor from Irkutsk to Magadan. 

"A bridge across Lena is a dream of many generation of Yakut people, of Russian people because it is not just a link between right and left banks but a symbol of unifying West and East of the country; I would say is it a bridge into the future," said Nikolayev in an interview in 2018. 

Work on the 3.1 km (1.9 miles) bridge is scheduled to begin later this year, and is expected to be completed in 2025. The bulk of the construction work will take place in severe climatic conditions and the bridge will be built on permafrost.

The ambitious project was originally touted in 1980s. Implementation has been repeatedly delayed due to the significant engineering challenges and high cost, as well as the Russian government prioritising other projects, such as the Kerch bridge.

Total construction costs are estimated to be around RUB83-billion (€1.12-billion) with the Russian state providing between RUB54-billion and RUB73-billion (€775-million and €1-billion) and the rest coming from private investment.

The project's scope includes the two-laned cable-stayed bridge with three pillars built on the river, as well as 11 km (6.8 miles) of access roads.

Reports have said that the China Railway Construction Company (CRCC) may be involved in the bridge's construction.  

The Siberian Times said that the decision to build a vehicle-only bridge is expected to lead to calls for rail links to follow, opening up a connection from the Trans-Siberian railway, with some commentators suggesting that it could one day lead to a connection with Alaska, thus linking Asia with North America.

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