VLADIVOSTOK, January 17 (Itar-Tass) — The builders of the bridge to the Russky Island have mounted more than 70 percent of the main span. As of today, its total length have exceeded the symbolic mark of 800 metres, which makes 72.8 percent of the total length of the world’s longest 1,104-metre span of the bridge across the Bosfor Vostochny Strait, the press service of JSC USK MOST told Itar-Tass.
A total of 414 metres of the bridge superstructure have been assembled from the mainland, and 390 metres – from the island. According to the plan, in March the main span’s connection will be made, and traffic on the bridge will be opened in the summer of 2012.
The bridge over the Bosfor Vostochny Strait is among the facilities under construction within the program for the “development of Vladivostok as a centre for international cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region” and is to be completed by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum’s summit that will be held on the Russky Island in September.
The bridge will stretch from the Nazimov Peninsula over the Bosfor Vostochny Strait to Cape Novosilsky on the Russky Island. The bridge’s length will be 3.1 kilometres. The world’s longest cable-stayed span - 1,104 metres - will stretch between two 320-metre high pylons, which will also be the highest facilities of this kind in the world. The construction of these giant pillars is also close to completion and their height has exceeded 300 metres.
In 2012, Vladivostok will host the 24th APEC Summit. In preparation for the event, the infrastructure of the city is being renovated and improved. Two giant cable-stayed bridges are currently under construction in Vladivostok – the Zolotoi Rog bridge over the Zolotoi Rog Bay in the centre of the city, and the Russky Island Bridge from the mainland to Russky Island, where the summit will take place. The latter bridge will become the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world upon completion.
The proposal put forward for Russia to hold the 2012 summit on Russky Island, which was a closed military zone during the Soviet-era, was confirmed at the end of the APEC Australia 2007 summit in Sydney, Australia. At a press conference in Sydney, Sergey Darkin, the governor of the Primorsky Territory, estimated the cost of hosting the summit at 147.5 billion roubles, 50 percent more than previous estimates. The construction of infrastructure serving the summit, by Darkin experts’ estimates, would aid the economic development of the Russian Far East and would see more than a six-fold increase of the Gross Regional Product of the Primorsky Territory by 2020.
The construction of more than 40 facilities for the APEC summit is currently underway in Vladivostok. Most of them were to be completed by the end of 2011. The deadlines for certain facilities have been shifted from the end of 2011 to the spring of 2012. They are the bridge across the Zolotoi Rog (Golden Horn) Bay, the Novy settlement – De-Friz Peninsula - Sedanka – Patrokl Bay highway with the low-level bridge De-Friz - Sedanka and part of the Patrokl Bay – Zolotoi Rog Bay motor road section. These facilities will be commissioned no later than May 31, 2012.
The 2012 APEC summit facilities in Vladivostok include roads, bridges, hotels, water and power supply facilities. In 2010, in accordance with the special federal program, the financing of the construction work on the Russky Island amounted to 29.3 billion roubles - 4.5 times more than in 2009. The proposal put forward for Russia to hold the 2012 summit on Russky Island was confirmed at the end of the APEC Australia 2007 summit in Sydney, Australia.
The APEC brings together 19 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and two territories - Hong Kong and Taiwan. Along with Russia this structure includes such economically important world powers such as Canada, China, Korea, Mexico, the United States and Japan. APEC is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. APEC is the only inter governmental grouping in the world operating on the basis of non-binding commitments, open dialogue and equal respect for the views of all participants. Unlike the WTO or other multilateral trade bodies, APEC has no treaty obligations required of its participants. Decisions made within APEC are reached by consensus and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis. APEC has 21 members - referred to as “Member Economies” - which account for approximately 40.5 percent of the world’s population.