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Russia may cut Lena bridge investment to up Transsib, BAM

The federal budget is ready to spend only $2.5 billion on the BAM and the Transsib upgrade until 2018, while Russian Railways estimates the investment needs of the projects at $14.2 billion

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. Russian Railways may spend less on construction of a bridge across the Lena River to spare more money on the upgrade of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) and the Trans-Siberian Railway (Transsib), Vedomosti business newspaper reported Friday, citing two federal government officials.

It is not known by now whether the bridge across the Lena River will be constructed at all because the traffic may fall short of the expectations, but there are funds planned to be invested in the bridge in the state budget, Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukayev said earlier.

The federal budget is ready to spend only $2.5 billion on the BAM and the Transsib upgrade until 2018, while Russian Railways estimates the investment needs of the projects at $14.2 billion.

Russian Railways will need to spend around $329,114 out of the funds meant to be invested in BAM and Transsib on the development of its passenger transportation services in 2014, which aggravates the financing conditions for its core Far Eastern projects.

Russian Railways declined to comment on the information.

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Transport Investment Russian Railways

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