RF Transportation Ministry plans to ensure operation of Russia’s inland waterways by 2015

Speaking about the development of Russia’s inland waterways at the meeting with the RF Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the Transportation Ministry  Igor Levitin said only 50% of the waterways’ 100,000-km European part may be used for free navigation, while the majority of hydraulic engineering structures are operated very intensively. According to Levitin, 100-percent financing of dredging works will start from 2010. “By 2015 we plan to ensure smooth operation of inland waterways’ European part, having solved two major problems: insufficient depth of Volga river at Gorodets (Nizhni Novgorod) and certain system at the Volga-Baltic waterway,” Levitin said.