I.Metshin: “Unfortunately, the pace of construction of new roads lags far behind the pace of housing construction”

Today, Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin took part in the conference of the All-Russia People’s front on the “Safe and high-quality roads” national project. The participants of the meeting, which was held in a videoconference mode, discussed the organization of traffic infrastructure and prospects for the development of the national project for the next decade.

The minister of transport of Russia Yevgeny Dietrich, Deputy energy Minister Anton Inyutsyn, General Director of JSC KAMAZ Sergey Kogogin and others took part in the discussion.

83% of the Kazan road network is in the standard condition

“Safe and high-quality roads is the largest national project. Its budget until 2024 is approximately 4.8 trillion rubles,”- said the moderator of the meeting Sergey Kogogin. According to the national project, an extensive work is planned for the construction, modernization, improvement of roads, introduction of innovative technologies for managing traffic flows and improving safety.

In Kazan, a record amount of 30.5 billion rubles has been allocated for roadworks over the past 4 years, including 9.7 billion rubles under the national project, of which 7.3 billion rubles are federal funds, Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin said during his speech.

“Thanks to this, we managed to achieve the normative state of the city's road network at the level of 83%. We paid close attention to the sectors of accidents concentration”, - the head of the city noted.

“We managed to do all this only thanks to the support of the Federal center, including during the preparation for major international projects, since the Universiade, - said the Mayor of Kazan. – I want to thank the Federal Government and the President of our country for the invaluable support that Kazan systematically receives during these events. I would also like to express gratitude to Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, who pays great attention to the road and traffic infrastructure of our city”.

I.Metshin proposed to introduce high-speed bus service in cities

Ilsur Metshin noted that since 2009 Kazan is an actively developing city. Today, more than 1.2 million people live in the capital of Tatarstan.

“Unfortunately, the pace of construction of new roads lags far behind the pace of housing construction. Thanks to the infrastructure projects that I have mentioned, we have solved the problems of traffic jams, and many works have been done. But we have to state that at the four main entrances to Kazan during rush hours, many kilometers of traffic jams still happen”, - I.Metshin said.

In this regard, the Mayor of Kazan proposed to provide funding for the construction of major road facilities under the national project, which will solve the problems not only of the city, but also of the entire Kazan agglomeration. For example, this applies to the Voznesensky tract, its length to the Federal highway M7 should be 12 km. Currently we create a design of this road from Ametievsky highway to Pobedu Avenue. The city is ready to start construction next year.

I.Metshin also proposed to develop municipal passenger transport through the introduction of high-speed bus service. “Together with the Russian road research Institute, we are developing a concept for launching pilot metrobuses routes. Four lines of routes are being worked out”, - the Mayor of Kazan said.

The regions will be assisted in updating passenger transport

This year, it was decided to assist the regions in updating passenger transport, said Yevgeny Dietrich. Thus, federal support is provided with the use of leasing arrangements. The Federal budget will allocate 20 billion rubles for this purpose. In total, within the framework of the national project, 12 agglomerations will get new buses by the end of the year, including in Kazan.

85% of regional network roads will be brought up to standard by 2030

The Minister of transport noted that this year many capital-intensive projects are planned in the regions. For example, in Tatarstan, the construction of the Great Kazan Ring road, the crucial for the city, is underway.

It is planned to redistribute annually the final values and indicators of implementation up to 2030. “The indicators are already exceeding the planned values. So far, we have achieved 65 percent compliance. By 2030, we plan to bring the share of regional roads included in the network to 85% and increase the overall indicator of the normative state of all regional roads to 60%”,- said Yevgeny Dietrich.

The conference participants also discussed the development of infrastructure for gas-powered vehicles, the transport leasing program, and the introduction of unmanned vehicles.