TASS, March 28. Construction of a new railway in the Yamalo-Nenets Region - the Northern Latitudinal Railway - will begin in 2018 with construction of a bridge across the Ob River, the region’s Governor Dmitry Kobylkin told reporters on Wednesday.
"This year, we shall begin implementation of the Northern Latitudinal Railway project from construction of a bridge across the Ob," he said.
Earlier, the governor said the bridge construction’s active stage near Salekhard would begin in 2019. Currently, specialists continue exploration and studies of the river’s bottom. This work is not easy, as Ob has another, underground, part filled with artesian water.
The governor told reporters, the region would invite to the construction the workers, who now participate in building the Kerch Bridge. First teams are expected to arrive in the region in June. The new bridge will connect cities Salekhard and Labytnangi. The local budget will allocate for it 8.2 billion rubles ($150 million).
The bridge is a part of the Northern Latitudinal Railway project - a railway of 700 kilometers, which will connect the Northern and the Sverdlov railways and which will be used for serving new deposits in Yamal’s northern areas. In implementation of this project, Russia will have for the first time in railway construction the form of concession. In late February, the Russian government approved beginning of the concession procedure.