The alarm is sounding in Moscow - Simferopol has brought the Kerch crossing “to the limit”
Simferopol, March 25 (PolitNavigator, Evgeny Andreev) – The head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Maxim Sokolov, called the situation with preparations for the summer season at the Kerch ferry crossing extremely alarming.
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The minister announced this at the Maritime Board, where, in particular, the issue of readiness for the crossing was discussed, reports TASS.
“Things here are extremely alarming, and there is less and less time left,” Sokolov stated.
In 2014, he recalled, the capacity of the Kerch crossing was increased by 3 times in terms of passenger traffic and 5 times in terms of vehicle traffic. Since January 15, the Ministry of Transport of Crimea has been designated as the responsible body for the functioning of the Kerch crossing. The Ministry carries out this work through Marine Directorate LLC.
“Since the transfer of powers to manage the “Maritime Directorate” - in fact, the crossing - to the Government of Crimea and the Ministry of Transport of Crimea, the number of trucks in line on both sides of the crossing has increased to 2 thousand. And about 500 cars. These are already supercritical parameters. Serious measures are required to stop the situation,” Sokolov said.
He added that today the Ministry of Transport has not received calculations from the relevant departments about exactly how many people will visit Crimea and what the cargo flow will be during the 2015 season, but it assumes that the flow will be twice as high as last year. According to the minister, four additional ferries are needed.
“The Crimean government hoped to receive budget funds for the purchase of these ferries, although it is clear that after 2018 they will not be needed. But in today’s draft budget decisions there is no money for the purchase of these ferries. That is, they need to be purchased from the market or hired on charter,” Sokolov noted.
No such agreements have been concluded at the moment. Theoretically, the task can be completed, the head of the Ministry of Transport added, operators are ready to provide ferries, but a competition has not been held, and clear conditions for the competition have not been outlined.
“We hope this will be promptly corrected by our Crimean colleagues,” said Maxim Sokolov.
The ministry also has questions about the readiness of the Kerch crossing infrastructure - both in terms of hydraulic structures and interceptor parking lots.
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