Press center
22.02.2023
Vladimir Putin said, “We will pay a particular attention to the International North-South Transport Corridor”
On February 21st, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin addressed to the Federal Assembly. Among the named strategic projects for state development, the Head of the country mentioned the International North-South Transport Corridor, a significant section of which is the Astrakhan Region port infrastructure.
— This year, vessels with 4.5 or more meters water draft will be already able to pass through the Volga-Caspian Canal. This will provide new routes for business cooperation with India, Iran, Pakistan and the Middle East countries. We will continue to develop this corridor, — Vladimir Putin addressed to the audience.
In 2020, the Port Special Economic Zone was created in the area near the Olya seaport in the Astrakhan Region by the presidential order within the framework of the INSTC development program.
Nowadays, 2 tenants are executing their projects with around 30 billion rubles of total investments. Pre-construction activities on the territory of 40 hectares adjacent to the berths 8th and 9th of the Olya seaport have been completed. Warehouses and storage silos with 100 thousand tons capacity are under construction. Oil reservoirs will be located there as well. The first phase of the Port Special Economic Zone will be able to receive 900 thousand tons of grain and 300 thousand tons of oil annually. A transshipping complex for containers, breakbulk and project cargo with 1 million tons capacity will be created nearby.
The second phase of the port SEZ implies construction of a new port on the location of Zaburunny Ilmen. The new berths total capacity is about 20 million tons which makes it possible to arrange modern port facilities in the Astrakhan Region to handle the cargo transferred through the Trans-Caspian route of the INSTC.— We have prepared the area so that the tenants may start their works. Now, the evaluation of the construction project of the Port Special Economic Zone infrastructure is being completed. This includes water and power supply networks, crane railways and other sites. We expect the first berths of the Port Special Economic Zone to be fully functional and receive grain and oil goods and containers by the middle of 2024. This spring, the anchor tenant is launching the grain transloading under the temporary scheme through the existing berths of the Olya seaport. We are working with the Russian, Indian, and Turkmenistan companies planning to execute their projects in the port SEZ. Altogether with the Turkmenistan side we are preparing the calculations required for the projects business plan aimed at logistic center construction, — comments Sergey Milushkin, Director General of SEZ Lotus JSC.
— Vladimir Putin emphasized the necessity of entering new foreign markets and significance of the new logistic routes for Russian cargo traffic. The President distinguished the International North-South Transport Corridor. The Astrakhan should become a multimodal transportation hub within the Corridor. We are actively working on it. This year, we will already provide the renovation of the Volga-Caspian shipping canal. A new container terminal with 3 million tons of power capacity will be put into operation in the next year. The President assigned us ambitious tasks. However, I’m absolutely sure that we will find solutions. We just have no alternative, — summed up Igor Babushkin, the Governor of the Astrakhan Region.
