Timur Utsayev, Grozny. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Several years ago Rosavtodor (Russian Roads) conducted a monitoring of road cover conditions in 87 regions of Russia. Chechnya took 84th place. In 2007 91% of its highways didn’t correspond to the normative requirements. Two military campaigns had had a significant impact on them – heavy military machines used the roads intensively. The road-transport network of Grozny was almost destroyed, especially in the center of the city.
Within implementation of the federal program of socio-economic development of Chechnya in 2008-2012 the republic improved the road network, in some parts of it highways became of a higher quality than in other regions of the South of Russia. Chechnya’s road network includes 121 km of federal and 3016 km regional roads. A major infrastructure project involved construction of a bypass road on the M-29 “Kavkaz” – Grozny-Gudermes federal highway. At the moment the M-29 “Kavkaz” goes from Krasnodar across Grozny and Makhachkala to the Azerbaijani border and then to Baku – 1118 km. With the launch of the new road in 2015 its length will be 1478 km.
The minister of transport Maksim Sokolov opened a new bridge across the Argun River on the M-29 “Kavkaz.” “The highway is overloaded, which causes accidents and casualties. Unfortunately, people die there as if there were a war on. This year we will widen the highway in Dagestan toward Ingushetia. I believe after our session the minister will have different views and approaches to our region. We are ready to build and develop. The government of the republic will actively participate in the development of this direction,” the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said after a meeting with Sokolov.
The minister also visited the airport of Grozny. “It is not only the best airport of Russia’s south, but also in the whole country,” Sokolov noted. The destroyed airport of Grozny was quickly restored, and soon it will get international status. Today the airport is one of the best in the North Caucasus. It welcomes flights from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Surgut, Astana, Istanbul, Amman, Dzhidda, and Medina.
Grozny intends to establish a port economic zone on the territory of the airport which will create more than 6,000 jobs. The project requires development of three key directions: the port industrial activity (household appliances and electronic assembly work, filling and wrapping of food products); transport-logistical activity; and technical service of airplanes. They plan to provide conditions for realization of projects by investors from other Russian cities. Moreover, Turkish and Kazakh companies express interest in this project.
