Amur Bridge Project
The Amur Bridge Project was announced in 2007 by Valery Solomonovich Gurevich, the vice-chairman of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. He stated that China and Russia might start construction of the first railway bridge over the Amur River at the end of 2007. The bridge will link Nizhneleninskoye (in Russian: Нижнеленинское) in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast with Tongjiang (in Chinese: 同江) in Heilongjiang Province. The 2,197-meter-long bridge, with an estimated investment of nearly US$230 million, was expected to be finished by the end of 2010, Gurevich said.[1] Gurevich said that the proposal to construct a bridge across the river was actually made by Russia, in view of growing cargo transportation demands. "The bridge, in the bold estimate, will be finished in three years," Gurevich said.[2]
It is expected that the main class of cargo going over the future bridge will be iron ore from Petropavlovsk plc's open-pit mine in Kimkan in Jewish Autonomous Oblast,[3] production at which should start in 2012.[4] The mining company will participate in financing the bridge.[3]
As of November 2008, construction had not started yet, but the transport ministries of the two countries have signed an agreement about building it; at this point, the construction work was expected to start in 2009 and to be completed in 2011.[5]
After some further delays due to technical challenges, construction was scheduled to begin September 15, 2010, the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. It is expected to be completed in 2013, with a revised cost of $313 million.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ "China-Russia Trade to Top US$40b". China Daily. 2007-06-18. http://www.china.org.cn/english/BAT/214252.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
- ^ "Cross-border bridge on Heilong River to bring Russia closer". China Daily. 2007-06-28. http://en.bcnq.com/bizchina/2007-06/28/content_5421141.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-14.
- ^ a b ANDREW E. KRAMER (Published: June 9, 2010), "China’s Hunger Fuels Exports in Remote Russia", The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/business/global/10ruble.html
- ^ "UPDATE 2-Shares of Petropavlovsk's IRC slump in Hong Kong debut". Reuters. Oct 21, 2010. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/10/21/irc-idUKTOE69J09420101021?pageNumber=2.
- ^ "Строительство первого железнодорожного моста соединяющего Китай и Россию начнется в 2009 году" (Construction of the first railway bridge connecting Russia and China will start in 2009) China.org.cn, 2008-11-27. (Russian)
- ^ "К концу сентября ожидается начало строительства железнодорожного моста "Нижнеленинское -- Тунцзян" через р. Хэйлунцзян /Амур/". http://russian.people.com.cn/31518/7079734.html. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
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