Planned railroad can bring a new intrigue between the Baltic and the White Sea ports.
Representatives of the EU project TransBaltic visited Arkhangelsk on Monday in order to study the situation around the planned construction of the Belkomur railroad.
Belkomur should in the future connect the Arkhangelsk sea port with the Komi Republic and the Perm region and in a longer perspective be connected with Transsib railroad, thus making a strategic transport corridor between the White sea and the Far East and South East Asia.
Belkomur also opens possibilities to link Arkhangelsk and other sea ports in the Barents Region like Oulu and Narvik (Barents Link project). Total cost of the Belkomur construction is estimated to approximately €14 billion which makes this project hardly realistic in the current situation. But Belkomur is included in the federal program of transport development till 2030 and this fact leaves hopes for investments from federal funds.
Representatives of Arkhangelsk regional government reported recently that the northern part of Belkomur connecting Arkhangelsk and Komi (215 km) can be finished even in 2014 if the federal government approves the plans. This will make the whole project much more attractive for the investors. However, if this project is to be realized, Arkhangelsk can in the future become rather a competitor than a partner to the Baltic Sea ports. The new railroad can bring to Arkhangelsk up to 20 million tons of annual cargo turnover from Urals, Perm and Siberia by the year 2020.
TransBaltic is a transnational project within the Baltic Sea Region Program 2007-2013. The project partnership is composed of regional authorities and specific organizations providing competence on transport and logistics issues. It is co-financed by the coastal regions authorities from Sweden, Poland, Denmark, Finland and Norway. Its ultimate objective is to create an integrated transport system in the Baltic Sea Region.