Bridge to give the Far East Sakhalin 15-20 billion annually - Ishayev

Construction of the bridge to the island of Sakhalin with the Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur Mainline modernization will bring 15-20 billion dollars a year of additional revenue by increasing the volume of transit traffic, the Minister of the Russian Federation on the development of the Far East - the Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Viktor Ishayev.

"Transit through Sakhalin will give us a significant amount of income and access to the ice-free ports of the island - is another way of integrating Russia in the Asia-Pacific region," - He said.

The minister stressed the need to integrate transport and logistics centers of the Far East with the international highway between Asia Pacific and Europe. These are three times shorten delivery times of goods in comparison to shipping.

"If we reorient the economy towards the Asia-Pacific region than we are doing now, the Far East is doomed to development", - Said Viktor Ishayev.

In addition, the project will use human resources and capacity building, previously involved in the construction of bridges across the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus East in Primorye.

Railway bridge to be built at the narrowest point of the Tatar Strait separating the mainland and the island of Sakhalin. The bridge will be part of a future 580-kilometer railway that will connect the village Selikhino (Khabarovsk Krai) and the village Nysh (Sakhalin Region).

The Minister has repeatedly emphasized that the marine railway ferry Vanino - Kholmsk by now become obsolete. Even with the reconstruction of ferry operations will continue to be volatile due to weather conditions.