MEDVEDEV ON EASTERN SIBERIAN OIL PIPELINE
MOSCOW, April 4, (RIA Novosti) -We will assess the projected Eastern Siberian oil pipeline's economic-efficiency levels, subsequently launching that project, presidential-administration chief Dmitry Medvedev said.
We do not need yet another construction project of the century (with uncertain prospects) reminiscent of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), Medvedev noted.
According to Medvedev, this project should synthesize two hard-to-combine aspects, namely, tremendous construction volumes and economic project. We can accomplish this formidable task, Medvedev added. After that, the project can get underway, he stressed.
In his opinion, the Taishet - Skovorodino - Perevoznaya bay pipeline (projected annual capacity, 80 million tons of oil) is, in fact, a mega-project capable of facilitating Siberian and Far Eastern development. This project can be compared to BAM in terms of its scale.
It has been decided to chart pipeline-construction stages by May 1. We should not squander money, while building the oil-pipeline network, Medvedev went on to say.
Russia's eastward development is critically important, Medvedev noted.
There will be no integral Russia without eastward development. However, such development is an extremely difficult and expensive project, Medvedev stressed.
Apart from economic problems, i.e. high transport tariffs, as well as a rudimentary Siberian and Far Eastern economic and financial infrastructure, we face some other problems.
Demography is an obvious and extremely complicated problem. We must do our best to increase the local population. This has something to do with a well thought-out demographic and immigration policy, Medvedev noted.
Otherwise the Russian Far East would suffer from hunger and desolation. Or someone else would develop that region instead, Medvedev noted in conclusion. |
