MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. VTB estimates its expenditures on preparation of the project on development of the North-South international transport corridor at 4-5 bln rubles ($43-54 mln), Chief Executive Officer of Russia’s second-biggest lender told reporters.

Earlier, a source in the bank’s press service told TASS that VTB had set up a company for preparing proposals on development of the North-South transport corridor.

"We have never said that we will invest in the project itself. We have undertaken <…> expenditures related to the project itself, how to do the project. It will cost around 4-5 bln rubles. This is what we will pay for making sure that the project itself will be done, founded, calculated with financial models. We undertake it. Further on, as the owner of the project, we will search for investors together with the state," Kostin explained.

VTB said earlier that it would undertake expenditures on developing the project for presenting it to Russian and international investors in the future.