Vitaly Saveliev:
By voting in elections, a citizen gets the right to demand what he promised.
In recent years, with the participation of the Ministry of Transport, more than one worthy page has been inscribed in the history of our Fatherland.Let's recall the Crimean Bridge and the Tavrida highway, the Moscow Central Ring and two dozen modernized or built from scratch airport complexes. All this was created with the regulatory and regulatory role of your department. And what would you personally call the main success in your line of work?
The role of the Ministry in the life of the country is growing. Our projects open up opportunities for trade and development of the country, as well as link together its most remote regions. Russia is becoming an important transport corridor due to its geographical location.
Over the past five years, our department has achieved serious success in implementing large-scale projects. During their implementation, we worked closely with the deputies of the State Duma. The main event was the launch of the railway and automobile roads of the Crimean Bridge. The opening was attended by the President of Russia. He noted that this is a world-class infrastructure project, the largest bridge not only in Russia in terms of length, but also in Europe.
The Central Ring Road is the largest project in the field of road infrastructure in the Moscow region today. The new highway has become the backbone of the Russian high-speed highway network and part of international transport corridors. The road crosses 13 federal highways. During the construction of the Central Ring Road, 225 artificial structures (55 bridges, 144 overpasses, 7 eco-bridges and 19 pedestrian crossings) and 18 transport interchanges were built. The length of the motorway is 336.5 km. It unloads the MKAD and the Moscow region road network from transit transport. The President of Russia was present at the opening of the Central Ring Road and thanked all those involved in the opening.
Another major success of the transport industry is the four-lane highway "Tavrida" has become the main artery of the peninsula connecting the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol with the Crimean Bridge. "Tavrida" corresponds to the technical category 1B, the speed is 90 km/h. The capacity of the road is 40 thousand cars per day. Now the travel time from Kerch to Sevastopol will take less than three hours, although it used to take a whole day.
Another important infrastructure project is the M-11 highway «Neva» Moscow − St. Petersburg. M-11 passes through the territories of six subjects: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and Leningrad regions. As part of the construction, 337 artificial structures and 30 transport interchanges were erected. The entire length of the highway corresponds to the parameters of the highest technical category with 4 lanes for traffic. From 6 to 10 lanes have been built on the sites directly near Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The project "Unmanned Logistics Corridors" is also connected with the Neva River, aimed at creating infrastructure and organizing unmanned cargo transportation between Moscow and St. Petersburg by the end of 2024. If successful, it is planned to scale the solutions tested on the M-11 highway to other routes, including sections of the international transport route "Europe", "Western China", the M-1 "Belarus" and M-4 "Don" highways.
As a successful example in the field of international cooperation, a large-scale project for transshipment of Belarusian petroleum products in Russian ports after reorientation from Baltic ports can be called. This project was implemented on the instructions of the President of Russia. According to the agreement signed with Belarus, almost 10 million tons of Belarusian oil products should be transported over the next years. In the first month after the conclusion of the intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Belarus, from March 5 to April 5, 2021, the volume of transshipment of petroleum products exceeded 222 thousand tons. tons at the initially declared 176 thousand tons. Thus, the task set by the President was exceeded in the most expeditious terms.
— In Russia, as in the world, a general trend towards digitalization is noticeable today. It is known that your Ministry is also developing a number of proposals in this area. But the executive branch operates in the legal field created by the legislative branch. What was the interaction between the Ministry of Transport and the State Duma on this topic?
I have worked for many years in commercial structures, where the most important thing is the result. I adhere to the same policy as a minister. My predecessors have done a tremendous job, for which I am grateful to them. Now is a new time of high technologies and high speeds, so now all our work is focused on the widespread introduction of digital technologies.
In the summer of 2020, digital technologies began to be applied to the transit of goods passing through the territory of Russia. This was due to the launch of the state cargo tracking system using electronic navigation seals based on GLONASS and the empowerment of the sealing operator of the company "Center for the Development of Digital Platforms". With the help of electronic seals, carriers and shippers were able to track their cargo routes online.
Most recently, on July 2, a law was adopted introducing the state information system of electronic transportation documents. The law is truly revolutionary, its adoption is a great victory for both the Ministry of Transport and our colleagues from the State Duma. The essence is simple - the translation of paper transport documentation into electronic form. In Russia, logistics companies, carriers and shippers annually processed more than 3 billion documents in paper form. The costs of this process amounted to 2 - 2.5% of the annual turnover of transport enterprises. In 2022, it is planned to transfer all transport documents into electronic form not only at the Russian, but also at the interstate level.
—At first glance, it is difficult for the Ministry of Transport to complain about the inattention of deputies – dozens of laws have been adopted in the State Duma, developed by your department as a legislative initiative. But in fact, did you manage to do everything you wanted? How would you generally evaluate the work of legislators from the, so to speak, "selfish" point of view of your department?
Speaking in dry figures, during the period of work of the State Duma of the seventh convocation, 45 laws were adopted in the field of transport, in the development of which our department took an active part. The most significant were the laws on electronic transportation documents, the ban on the disembarkation of stowaway children from public transport, and the licensing of bus passenger transportation.
Due to the specifics of the Ministry, we cooperate not only with the relevant transport Committee, but also with related Committees on International Affairs, Security and Anti-Corruption, budget and Taxes, and many others. I would like to thank, first of all, the Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin for his productive work. I also express my gratitude to the deputies of all parliamentary parties: they are professional and experienced people.
It seems superfluous for you and your department to ask about living evidence that ministerial work is not just documents, but something that can be felt with your hands, which improves the quality of people's lives, changes it for the better. Your work and its results are accepted by millions of citizens every day. And not always without criticism. But with new roads and digitalization projects, this is, so to speak, a global job. And what could you personally highlight in the activities of the Ministry, when it was your, his employees, joint efforts that directly improved the lives of fellow citizens?
— Many of our initiatives are aimed at this. For example, subsidizing preferential fares for family travel on long-distance trains. The reduced fare will be calculated as the difference between the cost of a ticket in a compartment and 50% of its cost in a reserved carriage. This project has been approved by the Government.
Flights of citizens from the cities of the Far East, Kaliningrad and Crimea to Moscow are already subsidized.
We are also working to regularly update the rolling stock of passenger public transport. For example, in July, new NEFAZ buses, purchased as part of the national project "Safe and High-quality Roads", entered the main city routes in Novosibirsk and Cherepovets. Buses are comfortable, spacious, equipped for people with limited mobility, have a cashless payment system, a place for a wheelchair.
At the moment, a single ticket has been launched in several regions of Russia. This is a multimodal transportation system.