Construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait may be awarded to Gennady Timchenko’s Stroytransgaz, with USC Most (25%-owned by Timchenko) and Arkady and Igor Rotenberg’s Mostotrest as subcontractors. The Vedomosti publication reported this, citing sources.
Stroytransgaz participated in competitive negotiations with the customer for the project, presenting its vision of the project, Timchenko’s press secretary said. The company has performed serious preparatory work involving assessment of the project, the risks involved in its implementation, and its own capabilities.
Mostotrest is ready to be a subcontractor on the project and take 30-50% of the work, the company's General Director Vladimir Vlasov said in early August. This company has a good chance of participating in construction of the bridge, analysts with Renaissance Capital wrote at the time.
In their view, award of large orders to Mostotrest (for example, the Rosneft company’s no-bid contract for construction of a branch from the Komsomolsk oil refinery to the ESPO oil pipeline was awarded to Mostotrest’s Transstroymekhanizatsiya division) may be a form of state support for the company’s co-owner Arkady Rotenberg, who is under Western sanctions.
The order for construction of the Kerch Bridge will be placed by the Rosavtodor agency. According to the government-approved program for development of the Crimea, the cost of the project will be RUB 247 billion (USD 6.8 billion), including the cost of approach roads. The project has not yet been approved. The bridge will most likely have two automobile lanes in each direction and two railway tracks.
