The governor of the Murmansk region proposed flexible railway tariffs and incentives for private investment for the development of the Arctic

MURMANSK, October 1 – RIA Novosti. Governor of the Murmansk region Andrei Chibis proposed introducing flexible railway tariffs and mechanisms for stimulating private investment in the rapid development of infrastructure in the Arctic, as well as increasing the efficiency of using icebreaking capacity, the region’s Ministry of Information Policy reported.

The Governor of the Murmansk Region, Chairman of the Commission of the State Council of the Russian Federation on the Northern Sea Route and the Arctic, presented a number of proposals for the development of the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor at a meeting of the Council for the Protection of National Interests in the Arctic and the Development of National and International Maritime Transport Routes.

“In his report, the governor emphasized the importance of synchronizing port facilities, railway infrastructure, icebreaker support and presented a number of proposals,” the ministry said.

As the head of the region noted, with the support of the President of the Russian Federation, the first stage of the Murmansk transport hub has been practically implemented in the region: almost 50 kilometers of railway and the Lavna port have been built. The next step is to increase MTU's carrying capacity to 45 million tons.

“Taking into account the president’s instructions to increase the volume of cargo transportation through Murmansk to 100 million tons by 2030, synchronizing the development of approaches and terminals is becoming a strategic task. To solve this, the governor proposed introducing flexible railway tariffs and mechanisms for stimulating private investment in the rapid development of infrastructure,” the message says.

Another proposal is to increase the efficiency of using icebreaking capacity. As the governor noted, Russia has a unique position regarding icebreakers - four new “atoms” are already in operation, and in general, this is a serious competitive advantage that no other country in the world has. It is important to develop a mechanism for the prompt redistribution of icebreakers between operating projects - this will increase the workload of the fleet and speed up the “rolling out” of the year-round Trans-Arctic transport corridor.