OREANDA-NEWS. The announcement came at the 2nd International Business Forum "Strategic Partnership 1520" in Sochi during a discussion on building new railway lines in Russia.

The participants noted that the plans to build new railway lines to North Russia on the Eastern side of the Ural mountains were very important to the economy not only of Russia, but of neighbouring countries. This line will be a major part of the project "Ural Promyshlenny and Ural Polyarnie." As Boris Lapidus, senior vice president at Russian Railways told journalists, the Company will take part in implementing the project, but the degree and precise nature of the involvement will be decided later during the design stage and as the technical aspects are decided. He also reminded journalists that the list of the project’s investors and its main parameters will be decided at the beginning of June. Russia’s Transport Ministry will coordinate the project.

Implementing the project "Ural Promyshlenny and Ural Polyarnie" will facilitate the exploitation of the vast natural resources in the northern and polar parts of the Urals, which are sufficient to meet Russia’s demand for minerals for 150-200 years. Nowadays, up to half of the raw materials used in the Urals – the center of Russia’s industry and defense industry - has to be imported brought into the region.

Building a new railway line to the Yamal peninsula and the line between Salekhard and Nadym (total length of 1,250 km) will open the way to exploiting 36 billion tonnes of coal, 60 billion tonnes chrome ore, 1,5 billion tonnes of manganese ore and 1,1 billion tonnes of bauxite, as well as huge hydrocarbon reserves amounting to 1,4 billion tonnes of oil, 225 billion cubic metres of gas and 2 million tonnes of condensate.

According to the Urals branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the total value of hard minerals that could result from the development of the industrial and polar regions of the Urals is around USD 290 billion. Current forecasts estimate that the construction of the railway lines will result in an influx of up to 150,000 people.