After lengthy negotiations, the two state enterprises are about to find a ice-breaking compromise. Two LK-60 icebreakers, the powerful 60 MW vessels, will be built at the Baltiisky Yard in Sankt Petersburg for a price 2 billion roubles below the original estimate, newspaper Kommersant reports. A part of the deal is an enhanced level of control over expenses from the side of Rosatom.
The long-dragged negotiations between the sides have already made the project one year behind schedule.
As previously reported, the federal government in early 2013 allocated a total of 86,1 billion roubles for the project. However, Rosatom insisted that the two vessels should cost only 77,5 billion, an offer which was declined by the Baltiisky Yard. A second tender with an adjusted starting price of 84,4 billion roubles was announced in December 2013. According to Kommersant, this is the final price which has now been agreed by the sides.
The new icebreakers will be the most powerful in the world and are key instruments in Russia’s enhanced activity level in the Arctic.
