Pushing Bridges

From Reuters:

"Russia pushes back 'Putin's bridge' to annexed Crimea by a year"

 

Russia has pushed back the completion date of a showcase multi-billion dollar bridge to link the Russian mainland with annexed Crimea by one year, saying the original plan had to be adjusted to take account of the weight of the trains that will cross it. The Kremlin sees the bridge, which will span the Kerch Strait, as vital to integrating Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014. President Vladimir Putin has called the project an historic mission. Extending 19 km (11.8 miles), the project, which will be two separate parallel structures - one for road and another for train traffic - will be the longest bridge Russia has ever built and the longest such dual-purpose span in Europe.  Construction of the road part is on schedule, but Reuters has learned that the rail segment deadline has been put back by a year, giving the contractor - a firm controlled by Putin's former judo partner with no experience of building bridges - more time to complete the 212-billion-rouble ($3.2 billion) project.  The delay underscores the huge logistical, financial and political challenges the Kremlin faces trying to breathe life into the economically deprived Black Sea peninsula at a time when it cannot draw on Western expertise due to sanctions imposed on Russia. A Russian government order from last year said the bridge had to be operational by Dec. 18, 2018 - a deadline Putin has repeatedly emphasized given the importance of the project to the struggling Russian economy and to Crimea, which Moscow can only supply by sea and air because of a Ukrainian land blockade.    But Rosavtodor, Russia's federal road agency, said in answer to questions from Reuters that the deadline had now been refined and that the rail segment would not be operational until the end of 2019, a year later than initially planned. The mention of a delay at the meeting near Tuzla Spit - a wind-lashed body of sand that juts into the Kerch Strait towards Crimea - went unnoticed by the media at the time.   The minutes, available on the Kremlin's website, show Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov gave Putin a different explanation to the one supplied by Rosavtodor to Reuters, telling him the railway part was being built later because there was only light rail traffic in Crimea in winter, an excuse that appeared to irritate Putin. "Railway traffic is light for as long as there is no railway (bridge)," Putin shot back. "If there will be one (a railway bridge) then ports will start to work differently and then there will be traffic." The contract to build the bridge was last year handed to a firm controlled by Arkady Rotenberg, a close ally of Putin's and his former judo partner. He owns 51 percent of Stroygazmontazh (SGM), the lead contractor.  Rotenberg is under Western sanctions because of Crimea's annexation and Russia's support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. He cannot raise capital in the West or hire Western sub-contractors to help his firm complete the project.

   

^ There were delays in building for the Sochi Olympics and now the delays on the bridged to annexed Crimea. Maybe if the contract was given to a person who knew how to build bridges it wouldn't have to be pushed back. This is a major win for the Kyiv Government and a loose for Putin. I am sure this is only the first deadline that will be pushed back. ^

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-crimea-bridge-idUSKCN0XA198