China will invest $ 5.9 billion in highway Moscow-Kazan – BBC Russian

• May 8, 2015

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According to Vladimir Putin, the EAEC and the draft proposed by China Economic Belt Silk Road can complement each other

Russia and China signed a memorandum on the financing of the construction of Russia’s first high-speed railway from Moscow to Kazan.

China has agreed to invest in the project about 300 billion rubles ($ 5.9 billion), said Russian President Vladimir Putin after talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The total cost of the construction of highway that could be part of an ambitious project of China’s “Silk Road” (transport, energy and trade corridor from the western borders of China through Central Asia and Iran to Europe) is 1.068 trillion rubles ($ 21 billion).

Earlier, Chinese investors have expressed their readiness to invest in the construction of SCM” Moscow-Kazan “250 billion rubles ($ 4.96 billion) in loans and 52 billion rubles ($ 1.032 million) in the form of a contribution to the joint project company.

The signatures under the memorandum put Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, the head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, chairman of the “China Railway” Sheng Guentszu and head of the State Committee China Development and Reform Commission Xu Shaoshi.

The length of the railway network in China is 112 thousand kilometers

Search for investors

The construction of high-speed highway Moscow-Kazan has been discussed for several years.

It was supposed that a large part of the project will finance the state, but in the budget such money is not there, and then began the search for an investor.

Last year, it became known that an investor may make China.

The talks with China, as reported by Russian media complicated by the fact that Beijing has demanded to increase exports to Russia of its components for the construction of branches.

Only at the end of March “Russian Railways” reported that they had received an offer from the company China Railways, who wanted to take part in Russian project.

Interest in the project showed and large European companies – Alstom and Siemens, however, China became the first country to quite specifically stated desire to invest.

The length of the BCM “Moscow-Kazan” will be around 770 km, the train speed will reach 400 km per hour.

According to the draft, the journey from Moscow to Kazan will be 3.5 hours instead of the current 12:00.

China on the length of railway lines is the second largest in the world, second only to the United States

Silk Road

SCM “Moscow-Kazan” can become part of China’s “Silk Road”, which, according to Beijing, China bind with markets in Europe and the Middle East.

Speaking at a press conference after talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin said that the EAEC, and the project proposed by China Economic Belt Silk Road can complement each other.

“It was about the possibility of pairing these integration models referred to in the signed by the chairman of Xi Jinping joint statement. In fact, we are talking about output in the long term to a new level of partnership, involving a common economic space on the whole Eurasian continent, “- said the head of the Russian state.

Some experts believe that the construction of the” Silk Road “threatens Russia with loss influence in Central Asia.

“If you look at a map, we remain Severn. Our Trans-Siberian loses its geostrategic importance. In practice, this will mean a further reduction of interest in our open spaces, and it reduces the geostrategic importance of our Far East. This can not but cause cautious attitude, “- said the BBC BBC Associate Professor of Moscow State Institute of Oriental Studies Vladimir Korsun.

However, Vladimir Petrovsky, of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, believes that Russia and other countries of the EAEC” can use the resources these institutions for infrastructure development of their national economies “.

” China, in any case, the project will advance, and it will still be implemented – with Russia or without Russia, with or without the EAEC EAEC, “- says Peter .

The Chinese media say that in Russia there is a high demand for new technologies, because the country up still using technology developed in 1970

“Unique Technology”

The Chinese press has met with approval the agreement between China and Russia.

The influential Chinese edition of People’s Daily calls an agreement with one of the most important documents are signed by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

In the newspaper cooperation of the countries on the highway called “a milestone “and stressed that this is” just the beginning of Russian-Chinese cooperation “.

How confident Chinese journalists, Russia has chosen China as an investor due to the fact that the unique technology in China have a price advantage over competitors.

According to Chinese media, in Russia there is a high demand for new technologies, because the country is still using technology developed in the 70s and 80s.

The new railway road built to the highest standards, “will be in great demand” during the World Cup in 2018, they conclude.

However, the terms input BCM operation has previously been transferred in December 2020, although earlier it was planned run the line to the World Cup in 2018.

China on the length of railway lines is the second largest in the world, second only to the United States. But Russia is still in fourth place with 86 thousand kilometers of roads.

At the same time over the past decade China has managed to build up the world’s largest network of high-speed and high-speed rail, which covers all the provincial centers of the country.