Russia, Japan seriously considering Hokkaido-Sakhalin bridge project - Shuvalov
VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 6 (Interfax) - Russia and Japan are seriously considering the Hokkaido-Sakhalin bridge project, whose costs may be reduced drastically via modern technologies, Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
"We have made our Japanese partners a serious proposal to consider construction of a motor and rail bridge between Hokkaido and southern Sakhalin. We are almost ready to begin doing our part of the job: to extend a rail line to the Pacific coast and to carry out an equally complex project of a passage from the mainland to Sakhalin. It would be another use for our rail infrastructure, and Japan would become a continental nation," Shuvalov said.
"Is it possible? It is, and modern technologies will even make [the project] less expensive. We are seriously considering this option with Japanese partners," he said.