Investment in Ust-Luga port comes to 90 bln rubles - Ivanov
ST. PETERSBURG. March 15 (Interfax) - Investment in the Ust-Luga Port (Leningrad Region) came to 90 billion rubles since the start of its construction, Russia's Deputy Prime Minsiter Sergei Ivanov said during a working meeting on the development on the port on Tuesday.
Ivanov noted that 65 billion rubles of this amount had been private investments.
The port complex still needs to be developed, including the construction of transport infrastructure estimated at hundreds of billion rubles of rubles in investment, Ivanov said.
He also said that the Ust-Luga would reach its design capacity by year's end. However, he did not specify its handling plans for this year.
"We expect the BPS-2 (Baltic Pipeline System) to be in operation at the end of the year," he added.
At the same time, the port has experienced several problems requiring settlement. For instance, these issues concern railway access to the port, dealing with ice conditions in the Gulf of Finland and developing the transport infrastructure.
Deputy Prime Minsiter Igor Sechin also confirmed plans to launch BPS-2 at the end to the year. "I am sure that Transneft will launch the terminal in December this year," he said.
It was earlier reported that cargo handling at the port increased in 2010 by 14% to 11.811 million tonnes. According to forecasts, the port's freight handling this year could reach around 20 million tonnes.
