Marat Khusnullin: 85% of federal highways will be put in order in Russia

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The less time it takes to travel, the better the country's economy and a person's financial situation. Soon, 85% of all federal highways in Russia are planned to be repaired. Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin stated this during the second event of the "Platform of the Future: 100 Projects of Russia" series, which was held at the National Centre RUSSIA.

"There is a saying in China: 'If you want to be rich, build a road.' It's short, but very precise: the better the roads in the country, the more of them are built, and the better they are, the richer the people. The key factor here is time. How much time do people spend getting from home to work, to a place of rest, or travelling for tourist purposes? Time has its cost. The less time a person spends travelling to their destination, the better the country's economy and their financial situation are," explained Marat Khusnullin.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, another important issue is cargoes. It is necessary to analyze their cost and the cost of their transportation, as well as transportation. For example, today Chinese goods in Russia are 3 times more expensive than in China itself. The key cost factor is logistics. The better the logistics, the cheaper the product, and the more people can use their money to buy goods.

"That's why we had the programme, the national project "Safe High-Quality Roads", which we over-fulfilled by 10%. What is 10%? This means that 25,000 kilometres of roads have been built and repaired more than planned. This is the federal centre's great job. This is the governors' great job, too," said Marat Khusnullin.

He also added that there are almost no regions in Russia that fail to fulfill the plan to bring 50% of their roads to a standard condition. On average, this figure reaches 55% in the country, and the Stavropol region is the leader, with 90% of roads repaired.

"In general, the plan until 2030 is that 85% of federal roads must be in good condition. This is 140 thousand kilometers of major roads, along which the most cargoes and passengers move. These are 85% of roads in agglomerations and at least 60% of regional roads," said Marat Khusnullin.

According to him, these are very ambitious plans that, nevertheless, are being implemented. The priority task is the development of transport corridors and the connection of the largest development centres with each other.

A series of thematic programmes "Platform of the Future: 100 projects of Russia" is being held at the National Centre RUSSIA. They are dedicated to the national development goals set out by the Presidential Decree No. 309. Five more thematic meetings will be held before the end of the year. The most important initiatives covering the social and infrastructural sphere, environmental issues, industry, economy and culture will be presented there. The projects will be presented by members of the Russian Government and heads of ministries responsible for the implementation of national projects and the achievement of national goals. The presentations will take place at the National Centre RUSSIA.