At the limit

Without a sharp increase in funding, the road transport network will be paralyzed

The condition of Russian roads and their future is a topic of increasing interest. This can be easily judged by the number of people who were forced to crowd into the aisles of the meeting room during the All-Russian scientific and practical conference “Federal Road Agency: results of 2005, tasks and prospects for 2006-2008” that took place last week.

Federal highways account for only five percent of the total length of roads in Russia. But it is on these routes that the main transport load falls - about half of all freight road transport. According to the deputy head of the Russian Road Traffic Safety Department, Pavel Bugaev, “existing federal roads are still operating at the limit of their capabilities,” the speed of cargo delivery is falling, and the accident rate remains high. “Due to the growth of the economy, the volume of cargo transportation has also increased, and the load on the roads has increased,” explains Mikhail Beskhmelnitsyn, auditor of the Accounts Chamber. “The State Duma and the Federation Council must radically increase funding for road construction.”

It cannot be said that the federal authorities do not understand the severity of the problem. In his report, the head of the Federal Road Agency, Oleg Belozerov, cited optimistic figures: taking into account amendments to the 2005 budget, funding for the road industry amounted to 120.35 billion rubles, that is, 16% higher than the 2004 level.

But in reality, these amounts are not enough even to maintain the existing road network. In Western European countries, the share of road expenses in GDP is 3-4%; in Russia, with its vast territory, it is only 1-1.5%.

Meanwhile, it is increasingly obvious that the insufficient pace of development of transport infrastructure will not only affect the development of the Russian economy as a whole, but will also create serious difficulties in the implementation of the most important projects, including priority national projects in the fields of healthcare, education, agriculture, and housing construction. No less obvious is the imbalance between the scale of funding for the road industry and the country’s rapidly growing vehicle fleet, which is increasing annually at a rate that is much faster than all previous forecasts.

According to the experts who spoke, among whom were not only road workers, but also representatives of the Russian Ministry of Transport, the State Duma, and the Federation Council, funding for the industry should be at least doubled, otherwise in five to seven years the transport network will be in a paralyzed state.

Sergey SMIRNOV