Rogozin: “Northern Latitudinal Railway and Belkomur are extremely important projects for Russia”

When asked how close the Belkomur project is to implementation, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin replied that the Northern Latitudinal Railway and the construction of Belkomur are good projects that need to be implemented as soon as possible.

“Belkomur is directly focused on Arkhangelsk and Murmansk via Komi to transport industrial goods. Both projects are correct and need to be promptly implemented. The question is choosing partners”, Rogozin said. “Yesterday at the Russian-Chinese meeting I told Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang: ‘The position of China, which tentatively said it was interested, is important to us’. President Vladimir Putin spoke about this today as well”.

Rogozin noted that the questions posed by Russia’s Chinese partners suggest they have started professionally studying the projects.

“I hope that both projects will be implemented by the time we start serious hydrocarbon production and are fully ready to bring Ural products there after ensuring the safety and efficiency of the Northern Sea Route. These are very interesting subjects. We will be working on them daily and they will be implemented”, Rogozin said.

Commenting on the Northern Sea Route, Rogozin noted that this is a “huge route that has become vital today. It is the shortest and safest route and is far away from various hotbeds. But in order to be utilized, it must be saturated with the required volume of cargo, goods and services that it can provide: navigation, communications, and rescue, if necessary”.