How much money is being used to build the Crimean bridge? Interesting facts about the construction of the Crimean bridge. Main technical characteristics
The construction of a bridge from Krasnodar to Crimea across the Kerch Strait is entering the home stretch, as Russian officials say. Even I, although I wasn’t particularly interested in Lately, I heard that almost 70% of the work has been completed. In this regard, from August 3, entry to all adjacent territories and observation platforms of the bridge construction is prohibited - they are taken under protection by soldiers of the Russian Guard.
This is understandable - after all, after the annexation of Crimea and the unsuccessful attempt to break through a land corridor to Russia through Mariupol, this is an object of special attention, including from President Putin personally. True, few people remember that for now this object is a dead end. Even if the bridge is completed on time, the motorist will have nowhere to go after he crosses the Kerch Strait - federal highway for Simferopol is not ready now and is unlikely to appear in 2018.
I will not go back to the distant past, as is now fashionable in Russia, and talk about the useless Tsar Bell or the meaningless Tsar Cannon. In modern times, there are enough examples of how Russians, successfully overcoming difficulties, implemented gigantic projects. At the same time, they did not receive practical benefits comparable to the costs.
Perhaps the most striking example of Vladimir Putin's reign is the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014. Even according to the Accounts Chamber, the costs of the Games amounted to about 325 billion rubles. According to independent estimates - at least twice as much... And here the money was clearly thrown away. Conceived as a powerful PR stunt, the Olympics were virtually forgotten - both inside and outside the country - after the annexation of Crimea in March of that year.
Another example is the bridge to Russky Island in Vladivostok. It was successfully built, with difficulty meeting the deadlines, for the APEC summit. This is a unique design. And now hundreds of students travel along it to study, because no one else needs the bridge except for them, the route is a dead end, there is no way to get further than Russky Island except by swimming...
The problem for Russia is traditional - fools and roads. The former are planning to build the latter and, as a result, there are simply no roads yet. A tangle of almost insoluble contradictions is created. Motorists will have a unique opportunity to take a breeze across the bridge over the sea and already with Crimean side get stuck in a traffic jam for hours. So far, only a couple of kilometers of road have been built on one side of the bridge and a few hundred meters on the other.
As for the railway span of the bridge, the benefit from it will also be very modest until the state company Russian Railways electrifies the Crimean railways. And they plan to tackle this no earlier than 2021...
The gigantic demonstration project will run into impassable roads and for many years will remain, like the Sochi Olympics, a good idea that has run into a Russian imperial impasse.
The event of the week was the opening of the Crimean Bridge. What is the price of the issue and who made money and who was “threw away” at this construction site?
On May 15, at the head of a convoy of trucks, President Vladimir Putin opened the automobile part of the bridge across the Kerch Strait. For the sake of this brief triumph, in front of the whole world, tens of thousands of workers connected the mainland with the peninsula for two years, and hundreds of billions of rubles were allocated from the budget.
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It took the president 16 minutes to cross the bridge while driving a KAMAZ.
Members of the Night Wolves motorcycle club became pioneers in terms of traffic violations on the Crimean Bridge. For spectacular photos, they parked on the side of the road, ignoring signs prohibiting stopping.
However, even before the bikers and Putin, the bridge was “opened” by a simple girl from Orel, Ekaterina Kobzar. She won a poetry competition about construction and was rewarded with a tour of the site.
I was the first to walk across one of the finished sections of the bridge. It was built using a special technology on inclined supports in order to maintain reliability in conditions of muddy bottom and seismic activity. But the Crimean Bridge is not only a road. This is a paragraph in future history books. To see it live, to feel the power, the work of all the people who are building it - that was the most amazing thing,” Ekaterina shared her impressions.
The main builder of the bridge was Arkady Rotenberg. During the project, he doubled his fortune: from $1.4 billion in 2015 to $3 billion in 2018 (according to Forbes).
Putin’s longtime friend received the largest government contract in history without a competition. Rotenberg is the sole founder of Stroygazmontazh LLC, which became the general contractor of the project. The oligarch’s company earned more than 222 billion rubles from the contract with FKU Taman.
But Rotenberg’s work does not end with the commissioning of the facility. PJSC Mostotrest, controlled by him, will provide road maintenance services. According to the government procurement website, the issue price is half a billion rubles per year. For the sake of such a business, Rotenberg recently even bought back his share in Mostotrest, which he got rid of several years ago.
Is this not the “accomplished miracle” that the president spoke about at the bridge opening ceremony?
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“Even under the Tsar-Father, people dreamed of building this bridge.”
Vladimir Putin
At the opening ceremony of the Crimean Bridge: Vladimir Putin, General Director of SGM-Most Alexander Ostrovsky, Arkady Rotenberg
The best - St. Petersburg
As an analysis of the source showed, orders related to the Crimean Bridge mainly went to companies from the Northern capital.
Designer for 436 million rubles. The company "Giprostroymost - St. Petersburg" performed. Construction control was carried out by Lenstroy CJSC (RUB 1.5 billion). Moreover, the organization became a supplier on a non-alternative basis. And even the construction of a stationary traffic police post was entrusted to the St. Petersburg JSC Transecoproject Institute.
The accompanying roads to the bridge were also built by a company from the same place as Vladimir Putin. JSC "Vad" was appointed as the "sole supplier" of services for the construction of the road approach to the Kerch Bridge, as well as the Kerch - Feodosia - Simferopol - Sevastopol ("Tavrida") road. Subsequently, the company, which changed its registration from St. Petersburg to Vologda, bypassing competitive procedures, received 141 billion rubles. In general, she is constantly lucky: she previously carried out the renovation of Nevsky Prospekt, Dvortsovaya Embankment, Vyborg Highway, and the construction of a VIP road in Pulkovo...
Firms from other regions get a little less money on Crimean projects. OJSC Tsentrodorstroy, headed by the deputy of the Bryansk Regional Duma from the United Russia Igor Kurov, received 8 billion rubles. for the construction of the Tavrida branch. Kubanenergo - 363 million for electricity.
A significant item of expenditure for the Crimean Bridge (9 billion rubles) is for security and safety. These issues are dealt with by a special Federal State Unitary Enterprise of the Ministry of Transport. At the same time, the management of the departmental security is no stranger to luxury: they rent exquisite apartments for 250 thousand rubles. per month and a Mercedes-Benz car.
Safety comes later
There are problems with security on the Crimean Bridge. The deadlines for carrying out engineering surveys, designing and equipping the bridge with engineering and technical systems were missed. The government ordered to shift the completion of work from April 30 this year to December 1 next. Because of this, in particular, the launch of truck traffic has been postponed: for now it is open only to cars and public transport. The parallel railway bridge should be commissioned by the end of the year.
Technical requirements were not always observed during construction. In particular, violations were detected by Rostechnadzor (the source has the results of inspections).
A specially created subsidiary of Stroygazmontazh, SGM-Most, compacted the concrete mixture in violation of technology. After removing the formwork, areas of unvibrated concrete, shells and voids appeared on the surface of the reinforced concrete supports. The inspectors also discovered extensive areas with rubble and shells. The standard thickness of the protective layer of concrete on the supports was not provided, Rostechnadzor came to the conclusion.
The general director of SGM-Most, Alexander Ostrovsky, was the same man who was sitting in the KAMAZ cab next to the president while driving across the bridge. By the way, he is also responsible for another financial violation: a fine of 83 rubles for transport tax.
Ostrovsky and Putin did not bother with seat belts. But the FSO explained this simply: they say that at that time the bridge had the status of a construction site, traffic on which is not regulated by traffic regulations. The Kremlin also found an explanation for the president being behind the wheel: he supposedly received a category C license 20 years ago. Why the FSB director needed to drive heavy trucks is a mystery.
The president was driving - and, as many noted, was not wearing a seat belt
Who got dumped?
We worked on the Crimean Bridge on a rotational basis. You can also find approximate salary amounts: from 20 thousand rubles. for low-skilled labor up to 80 thousand for specialists. The most common salary on job sites is about 40 thousand.
However, not everyone who went to make fun of them was happy. In the Belarusian media you can find complaints about deception on the part of employers. The Gomelskaya Pravda publication claims that several dozen “Belarusian guest workers” worked on the bridge for 2 months without days off, lived in trailers, and ultimately refused to pay them.
The organization that hired the Belarusians, Truboprovodstroymontazh, is also listed. As the source found out, this LLC was created only in 2016 (with the start of construction) and acted as a contractor for PJSC Mostotrest, which in turn received the contract from Rotenberg’s subsidiary SGM-Most.
The founders of Truboprovodstroymontazh, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, are two people: former Gazprom manager Vyacheslav Kolesnik and businessman Alexey Stepanov. It was not possible to contact them: the phone number listed on the official website is no longer in service. Reviews on the Internet about the company are contradictory: some write about excellent housing and decent pay, others about unbearable conditions and delays in money.
Got a taste for it
After the Crimean Bridge, a new mega-construction awaits Russians - a bridge to Sakhalin. Arkady Rotenberg should also take care of it. The project is estimated at more than 700 billion rubles. But it may also become more expensive: the bridge across the Kerch Strait also gradually increased in price.
A specially created person should monitor the implementation of the Crimean project public Council. But he was not involved in finances, said council member, singer Alena Sviridova:
Why the price has risen several times, I cannot answer. I'm not an accountant. Talkative mouths write a lot of nasty things. But construction is a real feat of people. I watched from my house as the arches were being erected. I heard the piles being driven. The equipment was all new, beautiful, not some old thing. The opening of the bridge is a grandiose event; it only evokes a feeling of pride.
It is difficult to assess the economic efficiency of budget investments in infrastructure; economists differ in their assessments. It will probably become more convenient to get to the peninsula. Perhaps the bridge will bring down prices and give an impetus to small businesses. But the authorities coped with the symbolic task absolutely accurately: while Crimea is not legally recognized as Russian in the world, the Kremlin has a reinforced concrete argument.
14/05/2018
The Crimean Bridge will be solemnly opened for motorists by President Vladimir Putin. In general, Crimea is the main project of the previous Putin presidency, and the largest crossing will become its final symbol, and indeed a symbol of the new one, modern Russia. And if you believe the expert - a symbol of corruption, inflated estimates, delayed deadlines and environmental disaster.
Immediately after the annexation of the Crimean peninsula, Putin personally ordered the design and construction of this bridge. Construction began in 2015. The automobile part was built in three years; there is still a railway crossing ahead, which is planned to open next year. The bridge is really huge - 19 km, and as officials report, it was built in record time. And motorists will be able to cross the Krechensky Strait in 10 minutes and get to Crimea.
But there are many questions about the bridge. For example, all the uniqueness, record-breaking and low cost of the Crimean Bridge is destroyed by the Chinese example. The Kerch bridge project, which in Russia is called the most high-tech and modern structure, is three times more expensive than the longest crossing in the world, which was built in China, the Economic News website calculated.
Chinese engineers built the Danyang-Kunshan Viaduct between the cities of Shanghai and Nanjing in just two years. Its length was 164.8 km. About 9 km of the bridge was laid over water surface. The bridge carries a high-speed rail line.
The project cost China a little more than $1.46 billion, and the Chinese spent an average of $8.8 thousand per meter of bridge.
Let us remind you that the length of the Crimean or Kerch bridge under construction is 19 km. It is being built using funds from the federal budget of the Russian Federation. The total cost of the project is about 228 billion rubles (almost $4 billion). This amount has been constantly growing since construction began. On average, about 209 thousand dollars are spent on one meter of the Kerch Bridge.
There are also questions about the timing; the day before, Russian financier Slava Rabinovich was asked why the crossing could not be opened for Putin’s inauguration; for example, the president could even take a ride on the bridge.
“Putin, perhaps, will risk passing if there is a human shield of one million workers who will support the supports with themselves. In general, I have a feeling that the trick of Putin driving across the Crimean Bridge will be used. Some kamikaze driver will drive across the bridge in his armored limousine, and then they will show a picture of Putin getting out of the car, who actually flew there by helicopter. Moreover, it will not be Putin, but his fourth double - some “Udmurt”,” Rabinovich sneers.
In the fall, when freight traffic across the bridge is launched, the peninsula expects a rapid increase in competition in the market and simplification of logistics. Now delivery from other regions of Russia to Crimea averages up to 30% of the cost. The bridge will reduce prices for imported products and goods. In turn, Crimean fruits - apples, peaches, grapes - will become more accessible to residents of other regions of the country.
The 2018 holiday season promises to be a record one - hardly anyone will deny themselves the pleasure of driving a car over the Kerch Strait. Following the opening of rail links at the end of 2019, tourism is forecast to rise to 15 million people a year - almost three times the number coming today. And even for those who have long been in love with the peninsula, the Crimean Bridge will allow them to rediscover it. Channel One reports.
Another “minus” of the crossing is the death of the Red Book dolphins that live in this region. The fact that the bridge could actually exterminate an entire species was said by Ukrainian scientists who predict the transformation Sea of Azov to the Black Sea Gulf, which can change chemical composition water, and this in turn will entail the death of living organisms. Mercantile Ukrainian scientists estimated environmental damage at $400 million, the Institute reports. water problems and land reclamation NAS of Ukraine.
The Crimean Bridge information center categorically rejected all accusations of any environmental threats from the construction of a transport crossing across the Kerch Strait. “Even at the design stage, all the necessary surveys were carried out, including assessing the impact on environment both during construction and for the period of operation of the bridge structure,” they said in response to an RNS request.
The notorious Crimean Bridge, which until recently was called Kerch, is at the final stage of construction. About how much the occupiers spent on its construction, what features it involved and what could destroy the bridge from Taman to Kerch is in the article of Channel 24.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 15 or 16 (the Kremlin decided to make an intrigue with the date), accompanied by his always faithful “Night Wolves,” should pompously open the newly built Crimean Bridge. To begin with, only passenger cars and buses will be able to move freely - the railway part is still being completed by the occupiers, and they are afraid to let trucks in.
Who built the bridge from Kerch and when?
In history, there have already been several attempts to connect Crimea and Kuban by crossing - the bridge was completed for the first time in 1944. However, it did not stand for long - it was destroyed by a strong ice drift already at the beginning of 1945.
IN modern times The construction of the bridge has been in Ukraine’s plans for a long time. The work was not accepted due to the high cost of the project, but in April 2010, Moscow and Kyiv nevertheless entered into an Agreement on the construction of the Kerch Bridge.
Before the annexation of Crimea by Russia, the bridge was needed to improve transport links between the countries of the Black Sea basin, which agreed to build a road around the sea. Each country independently had to reduce its area. In Ukraine, the route had to pass through Kerch, because bypassing the Sea of Azov extended the route by 500 kilometers.
"Construction of the century"
After the occupation of Crimea, Putin announced his intention to urgently build a crossing across the Kerch Strait. Ukraine, however, withdrew from the agreement on the construction of the bridge in the shortest legal time possible.
In order to complete the “construction of the century” before the 2018 presidential elections, State Duma deputies adopted a document that allowed the construction of the Kerch Bridge without observing any laws at all. In Moscow, the developer was allowed to ignore the norms of environmental and urban planning legislation, destroy historical and archaeological monuments, and freely confiscate land plots from the population.
The cost of the Crimean Bridge is now 228 billion rubles
The right to build the bridge went to billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, who is close to Putin. The oligarch is known for being a childhood judo sparring partner for the head of the Kremlin.
However, Putin’s friend had a hard time with the construction of the facility - the contractors were afraid to interfere with the work because of the sanctions that awaited them. It took longer to look for a contractor to build the railway part of the bridge - no one wanted to take on this work at all.
Characteristics of the Crimean Bridge
The length of the new structure is 19 kilometers, 11.5 of them are on land and another 7.5 kilometers are over the sea. The bridge connects the Kerch and Taman peninsulas through the island of Tuzla and the Tuzla Spit.
The bridge crossing over the Kerch Strait consists of parallel road and railway sections. Highway has 4 lanes, the maximum speed along it will be 120 km/h.
The railway consists of two tracks. The design speed of passenger trains on the bridge is 120 km/h, freight trains are 80 km/h.
Characteristics of the Crimean Bridge
Now the construction of the railway part of the Crimean Bridge continues. It should be completed by December 2019.
What's wrong with the Crimean Bridge?
The main complaints about the Crimean Bridge - besides the fact that it was built illegally, violating all conceivable international norms - is its location. The Ukrainians planned construction in the northern part of the Kerch Strait, since the further south you go, the worse the conditions.
Thus, the author of two Ukrainian projects for the Kerch bridge, Georgy Rosnovsky, is convinced that of all the possible options for transport crossing the strait, the Russians chose the most unsuitable one - it is the most expensive and most complex of all that have ever been proposed.
In total, during independent Ukraine, the possibility of building a crossing in four places was considered. Three of them connected Crimea with the Chushka Spit on the Russian coast: Northern ran at the easternmost point of Crimea - Cape Fonar, Zhukovsky - in the area of the ferry crossing, Yenikalsky - in the vicinity of the Yeni-Kale fortress, and the southernmost of the options was Tuzlinsky.
What can destroy the Crimean Bridge?
Experts say that the durability of the Crimean Bridge is a big question. They explain that everything will depend on natural disasters and the load on the bridge.
First of all, in the area of the bridge, reliable bedrock soils are located at a depth of 90 meters in places. The Kerch Strait itself is located in the area of a tectonic fault and not far from the island of Tuzla there is a network of deep mud volcanoes. When they “breathe”, soil vibrations occur.
Through this feature, the Russians must drive piles to a depth of up to 100 meters and also under right angle, taking into account possible earthquakes. However, according to experts, Russia lacks such technologies and similar construction experience. And although Moscow announced that the supports had been driven to a depth of 90 meters, not everyone is in a hurry to believe it.
Another danger is crossing the bridge over the Tuzla Spit, which is constantly being washed away.
Bridge construction site from space: photo by NASA astronaut Tim Kopra
In addition, as Russian hydrobuilder Yuri Sevenard explained, extreme weather conditions were not taken into account during construction - strong winds, storms, strong currents and rising ice.
Another danger is the large number of shells left in the region since World War II. In Russia they swore that before construction began, they examined the territory and found 700 shells.
Cracks and other failures
In April 2018, photos appeared online showing that the 256th support, which is located almost in the center of the Kerch Strait, cracked in two places.
Cracks on the 256th support (video):
Moreover, this is not the first failure in this area. In February 2018, a subsidence of one meter was recorded in the supports. However, this subsidence was far from the first - a similar situation happened in September 2017, then construction had to be suspended. This happened after the installation of one of the bridge spans - one support sank by a meter, the other by a meter and a half.
This confirms the concerns of experts about the reliability of the bridge. According to forecasts, the supports may not withstand the load of even an empty railway line. And the main problems will begin with the launch of freight trains.
What does Ukraine lose?
During the development of bridge projects, Ukraine noted that the height of the navigable arch should be at least 50 meters from the average long-term sea level. However, Russia built only a 35-meter arch in the main navigable part of the Kerch Canal.
Because of such a vile step, Ukraine is losing millions of hryvnias and jobs. In particular, this will destabilize the situation in Mariupol and Berdyansk.
Now, as calculated by the director of the Mariupol sea trade port, Alexander Oleinik, only those with whom the port previously worked.
The Center for the Study of the Army, Conversion and Disarmament stated that the construction of the occupiers will lead to 25-30% losses of Ukrainian ports.
How does Ukraine react?
In accordance with a separate agreement between Ukraine and Russia, any construction in the Kerch Strait can only be carried out with the permission of both parties. Therefore, all work in the Kerch Strait is completely illegal.
Back in 2017, the Ministry of Justice began to prepare a claim and calculate the losses of lost funds by the Mariupol and Berdyansk commercial ports. The lawsuit will also take into account the fact that during construction Russia closed the Kerch Strait to ships in order to build the bridge arch.
Ukraine is also monitoring the contractors that are working on the construction of the bridge. They are included in the sanctions lists.
Many experts now call the Crimean Bridge the construction site of the century. 120 cameras are watching her online, along with the builders active work led by ecologists. But what lies behind this grandiose work, omitting political motives? Is the bridge in Crimea really so unique? Russian and foreign experts have different opinions on this matter. But first, some interesting facts about the construction of the Crimean bridge.
How and who builds the Crimean Bridge?
The Crimean Bridge is a strategic structure being built in Russia that will pass through the canal, along the spit of Tuzla Island and along the Kerch Strait Dam, in approximately equal parts.
Important indicators:
- The project is financed from 50% of Rosavtodor and the federal budget.
- The total cost of the Crimean bridge is almost 228 billion rubles.
- More than 50 thousand tons of metal structures are used in the construction of the Crimean bridge.
- The bridge piles are of various sizes, the maximum burial distance is 90 meters.
- The general contractor is Stroygazmontazh. There are a total of 21 contractors on site.
Did you know? In order to meet the strict deadlines set by the President of the Russian Federation (road bridge by the end of 2018 and railway bridge by 2019), construction is being carried out with the involvement of more than 2,000 workers simultaneously at 8 construction sites along the entire length of the future Crimean bridge, 4 of them at sea.
Special reinforced concrete structures will protect the bridge in case of a collision with ships. Near the construction site, a gas pipeline is being laid along the bottom of the strait.
If you are afraid of earthquakes, then, according to the designers, you can safely wait out them on the Crimean bridge, because according to their estimates, it will withstand even 9 points.
Construction stages
Construction is progressing at a rapid pace. Almost all supports have already been installed and this moment filling of the intersupport space began. All construction is carried out almost without the involvement of foreign specialists, materials and equipment. Foreign experts were invited only for consultations at the design stage. And the only materials that will have to be purchased abroad are steel cables to support the roadway, since they are not produced in Russia.
For the construction of the Crimean bridge, Russian specialists chose a unique but reliable technology of “sliding” the canvas. It occurs in several stages, some of which are carried out in parallel.
- While some teams are erecting supports, others are installing slipways between the supports.
- Next, on a specially installed slide, the support moves to a certain location.
- Then the next floor element is attached to it from behind, and the structure is again pushed forward with jacks.
This way the advance will be more than 2 km. The speed of movement of the ceiling is only 20 cm per hour. Now construction is in the second of four stages, with 3 and 4 being called “cosmetic”.
Opinions of foreign experts
Foreign experts do not consider the construction technology to be so unique, and claim that there are analogues in world practice, these are:
- The Portuguese "Vasco da Gama" is over 17 km long, built in just 3 years, across the Tagus River;
- Bridges in the USA across Lake Pontchartrain, almost 38.5 km long;
- King Farhad Bridge in Saudi Arabia across the Persian Gulf, 25 km;
- Railway bridge over the Wei River in China, almost 80 km long, etc.
Bridges in the USA over Lake Pontchartrain
King Farhad Bridge over the Persian Gulf
Portuguese bridge "Vasco da Gama"
Bridge over the Wei River in China
But what’s really surprising is the construction timeframe given by official sources. The American bridge, for example, also consists of two parallel bridges, but the construction of ours is clearly proceeding at too extreme a pace. But, according to Swenson, a German engineer, Russia has both the specialists and the means to realize its plans. And the mentioned figure of more than 200 billion rubles seems quite adequate to experts.