Bridging the Gap

A Russian-Chinese joint venture will construct a bridge across the Amur river between the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk and the Chinese city of Heihe in December, according to Viktor Mitr, the governor of the Amur Region, who has just returned from an official visit to China.

The joint venture to be created on a parity basis, Mitr said.

"It has been agreed that the contracts are to be shared equally between Russian and Chinese builders, while the financing will be provided by the Chinese side," he also said.

The project envisages construction of separate automobile and rail bridges with a single border crossing point, Mitr noted.

According to Mitr, the automobile bridge construction is to begin first, and it should be completed in three years.

No specific companies participating in the project were mentioned, although the Russian Railways company's President Gennady Fadeyev said in February that Russia's Railways Ministry and the Russian Railways company were ready to participate in the construction.