Funding of Volga-Don Canal expansion project possible after 2020, Transportation Minister says
Funds for construction of the Volga-Don Canal’s second branch can be allocated only after 2020, Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov said in an interview with journalists in Volgograd.
"Transport Strategy 2030, adopted by the Russian government last week, involves the development of the second line of the Volga-Don Canal to increase its capacity to meet the growing freight and passenger traffic. The state can not afford as yet the construction of the second branch of the VDC for the period of until 2020, in the future, up to 2030, we expect to have the second line completed," the official said. The minister did not rule out the possibility of co-financing of the project from extra-budgetary sources.
Oleg Shakhmardanov, the head of the Authority of the Volga-Don Basin Waterways said that today the Volga-Don is heavily congested: "This is a new trend not observed since 1983. We expect to have a year-over-year 15-percent growth this year. Under the existing throughput capacity of the canal and locks, it’s going to be pretty hard to handle with the volumes."
He also added that the traffic flows from the Volga to the Don are roughly estimated at 5 / 1 ratio to the reverse movements.
"There are 15 to 25 vessels in the queue waiting for transit through locks. In fact, it takes 20-25 hours on average to wait for locking through," said Shakhmardanov. However, even today Volga-Don shipping canal could handle up to 16-18 million tonnes for the navigation season.
According to experts, the project for construction of the second branch of the Volga-Don Canal could be executed in 7-10 years. The capacity of the second line of the VDC is projected at 19.5 million tonnes of cargo a year, while the total canal throughput capacity is estimated at 35, 5 million tonnes versus the current 16.5 million tonnes.