‘This road is of great importance for the Volga and Ural districts’

“The junction will provide access to the toll road section”

The first point of visit was the zero point of construction, it is from here that the Alekseevskoye-Almetyevsk highway originates. As part of the first stage, 43 kilometres of highway are to be built, now the upper layer of the surface dressing has already been laid here, as well as the lower layers. Lighting poles have been installed, a cable has been laid, and treatment facilities are being installed.

“The total length of the road we are building is 145 km. It is being built in three stages, with construction work underway on each of them. The Alekseevskoe junction is also located here, it will also be reconstructed during the construction works. The junction will provide access to the toll road section. The cost of the entire Alekseevskoe-Almetyevsk road is 102 billion rubles. This is taking into account the works that have been underway since 2007. They were conducted by the company of Foat Komarov — SMP-Neftegaz JSC," said the head of the Ministry of Transport of Tatarstan, Farit Khanifov.

The minister added that according to the concession agreement, the works are carried out by two general contractors — SMP-Neftegaz JSC and Alekseevskdorstroy JSC. At the second and third stages, where Alekseevskdorstroy works, many subcontractors are involved. Each of them has its own specific tasks.

“I would like to draw your attention to that the works are in full swing. The object is 43% finished. We understand that Tatarstan is an oil republic and we have a lot of intersections. Therefore, the intersection of the two main federal roads Moscow-Ufa and Moscow-Yekaterinburg will be connected by a jumper, this will make it possible to move both in the East-West direction and in the North-South direction. This road is of great importance not only for the economy of Tatarstan, but also for the Volga and Ural districts," Khanifov commented on the project.

“That's why we're here, not them”

Avtostrada JSC, a subsidiary of SMP-Neftegaz JSC, is involved in the construction of the road. Last year, Avtostrada had to defend in court a concession agreement for the construction of the Shali-Bavly road. The lawsuit against the company associated with Foat Komarov and the Tatarstan Investment Development Agency was filed by Gradientstroy PLC, Moscow. The main founder of the plaintiff is Khmarin and Partners PLC, which is backed by Viktor Khmarin, a classmate of President Vladimir Putin at the law department of the Leningrad State University.

Muscovites demanded to recognise the decision of the TIDA, drawn up by the protocol on the results of consideration of applications, as well as to invalidate the concession agreement between Avtostrada JSC and the Ministry of Transport of the republic. In 2021, the Tatarstan authorities decided to conclude a concession agreement on the creation and operation of the Alekseevskoye-Almetyevsk highway without holding a competitive tender with Avtostrada JSC. The Moscow company was dissatisfied with this and demanded to hold the competitive tender again. Muscovites' application for participation in the competition was rejected due to questionable offshore accounts. To participate, Gradientstroy submitted a letter from a certain organisation Infrastructure Invest Capital Limited (a private limited liability company), but there was no information about the availability of funds from the company in the package of documents. Then it turned out that the Muscovites were not going to build a road, claiming only violations when concluding a concession. Oleg Shabalin, the director general of SMP-Neftegaz JSC, commented on this lawsuit to Realnoe Vremya.

“When projects with large funding begin, there are those who want to participate in them. But it is necessary to focus on those organisations that have experience in the construction of significant objects and who treat their work professionally. They have a resource, equipment. There are a lot of directions at this object — both the construction of roads and bridges. “That's why we're here, not them," Shabalin responded.

The interlocutor of the publication also told how the stages of road construction were shared with the Alekseevskdorstroy company. Initially, it was planned that this section of the highway would be built only by Avtostrada JSC. But last year, the Ministry of Transport of Tatarstan suspended the company from participating in the main volumes of works. The project was divided into three stages. As a result, only one went to the company of Foat Komarov, the other two went to Alekseevskdorstroy.

“Extra hands, pieces of equipment and minds are never superfluous. Nowadays, when there is financing, it is a large and important facility for the construction industry. It is good when there is an opportunity to attract human resources and equipment. All this will be aimed at developing the economy not only of the region and Russia, but also of friendly countries," Oleg Shabalin briefly answered this in a conversation with Realnoe Vremya.

He also noted that it is too early to say how much it will cost to travel on the Bavly-Shali toll road. But he expressed confidence that the fee should be reasonable, and the service should be affordable to everyone.

Free flow of continental significance

The toll road will consist of four lanes of 3,75 m each. The construction is scheduled to be completed in 2024. The fact that it is one of the segments of the international transport corridor Europe — Western China, the construction concept of which was adopted in 2004, attaches particular importance to the project. The route is included in the federal target programme Development of Transport System of Russia for 2010-2015. It represents the optimal route from Europe to China with a minimum number of participating countries and borders, which is expected to contribute to the development of the automotive industry, hotel business, tourism, IT technologies for logistics, and the creation of thousands of additional jobs, as well as significantly reduce the time of cargo delivery.

The road will be equipped with an intelligent transport system. It provides for barrier-free passage of vehicles from the beginning of the first stage to the end of the third stage Free Flow.

When entering the toll road, vehicles pass under the frame of the toll collection system, then the vehicle's passage is automatically recorded, the vehicle class is determined, the state number is read, the presence of a transponder is determined, and charging is assigned.

Also, weight and size control of cargo transport will be provided on the highway. An automatic traffic system is provided to ensure the safe passage of users. It provides control over the entire length of the road:

• Output of messages and warning road signs about the meteorological situation and the condition of the roadway;
• Output of messages and warning road signs about the traffic situation on the road (accidents and other incidents, congestion, repair or maintenance work, etc.);
• Limitation of permissible driving speeds in unfavourable meteorological conditions and in conditions of ice occurrence;
• Limitation of permissible traffic speeds during road works;
• Speed control depending on the general traffic situation on the road.