The Ministry of Economic Development denied the decision on the railway project in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug

The decision to finance the construction of the Northern Latitudinal Railway (SSH) in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug from the National Welfare Fund (NWF) has not yet been made, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Ilya Torosov said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.

“I do not confirm the information on the SSH. So far, there has been only a discussion of this issue at meetings, but a final decision has not yet been made, ”he said, adding that the department is still studying ways to simplify the procedure for transferring funds from the NWF to already selected projects.

Now 12 projects have been included in this list, 2.5 trillion rubles are going to be allocated from the NWF to finance them until 2024, the deputy minister specified.

In mid-March, the Kommersant newspaper, citing the minutes of a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin dated March 9, announced the suspension of the project, and the funding gap for it exceeded 300 billion rubles. For this reason, the commission agent could consider the possibility of attracting borrowed capital, the newspaper wrote. Russian Railways and Khusnullin's office did not comment on these data.

The SSH is to link the eastern and western parts of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug by connecting the Northern and Sverdlovsk railways. The highway consists of two parts, the first - SShKh-1 - more than 700 km long, should connect the Obskaya railway station with the cities of Nadym, Salekhard and Novy Urengoy. The second part of the highway - SSH-2 with a total length of 170 km - should run between the Bovanenkovo ​​station and the port of Sabetta. The cost of building the first section of the track, according to calculations, was to be 236 billion rubles, and the second - up to 77 billion rubles.