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State investments in Murmansk Oblast on top 5 list

Russia is investing large amounts of money in development of Murmansk port.

Russia in 2014 concluded state orders amounting to 41.5 billion rubles for development of the Murmansk transport hub. This was the fifth largest state order last year.

Location

In addition, the state concluded contracts worth 84.4 billion rubles for construction of two new nuclear-powered icebreakers that will be based in Murmansk.

According to Russian Business Consulting’s list over the ten largest state contracts in 2014, Murmansk made it to the top-five list together with Moscow, St.Petersburg and huge nation-wide development projects.

The company Stroygazcounsulting won a 41.5 billion rubles (€550.3 million) contract that includes construction of a 46 kilometers long railroad line from Murmansk port and a bridge over Kola bay. This project is part of the Murmansk Transport Hub, which has been a regional priority since then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in 2008 signed a decree on its financing

When the project is finished, Murmansk port will become a northern Russian hub for container shipping, oil reloading and coal and fertilizers terminals,

The whole Murmansk Transport Hub project was in jeopardy in April 2014, when Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich suggested moving 39 billion rubles of the planned investments to new projects in the Crimea. This was heavily criticized by Murmansk Governor Marina Kovtun and Rosneft President Igor Sechin. President Putin later declared that the project is of national importance and that there would be no reduction in the investments.

The largest project on Russian Business Consulting’s list is the federal program “Bridging the Digital Divide in sparsely populated areas of Russia”. The Federal Communications Agency and Rostelekom have concluded a 10-years contract worth 168.5 billion rubles (€2.23 billion) on laying of 200,000 kilometers of fiber-optic line to 13,600 villages all over Russia.

Nuclear icebreakers
Rosatom in 2014 concluded a 84.4 billion rubles (€1.11 billion) contract with Baltic Shipyard on construction of two powerful nuclear-powered icebreakers. One is planned to be ready by the end of 2019, the other by the end of 2020.

The prototype vessel, the LK-60 “Arktika”, was laid down in 2012 and is planned to be put in service in 2017. This will be the world’s most powerful icebreaker – 173 meters long, 34 meters wide and able to sail in 3-meter thick ice. Russia’s fleet of nuclear icebreakers is based in Murmansk. 

According to Russian Business Consulting, the icebreaker contract was the third largest the Russian state signed in 2014.