The first road bridge between Russia and China was opened (Video)

The first road bridge between Russia and China, built along the Amur River between Blagoveshchensk and the Chinese city of Heihe, has been unveiled, TASS reports. The connection between the participants, the opening ceremony in Beijing and Moscow was provided by video link.

“In today’s divided world, the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe bridge between Russia and China has a special, symbolic meaning. It will become another thread of friendship that connects the peoples of Russia and China. Construction of the bridge began in 2016, thousands of people are involved in the construction, working around the clock from both China and Russia, “said at the opening Deputy Prime Minister – Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Far Eastern Federal District (SFD) Yuri Trutnev .

On Friday, the first trucks crossed the cross-border bridge between Russia and China through the Kani-Kurgan-Heihe checkpoint – eight Russian trucks from Gazprom’s Helium Service fleet using environmentally friendly fuel – liquefied natural gas left for China. Trucks carrying car tires and components for electrical equipment also entered from the Chinese side.

According to the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Vitaly Saveliev, the commissioning of the facility will increase trade with China to 1 million tons of cargo per year. “The bridge across the Amur will provide the priority area of ​​the Amur region with the necessary infrastructure, will help reduce transport costs for business, will allow neighboring regions to reduce the export and import route by more than three times and will stimulates the development of joint investment projects, “he said via video conference.

Hu Chunhua, deputy prime minister of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, said the opening of the bridge shows the two sides’ readiness to deepen comprehensive co-operation. “China is ready, together with Russia, to use the opportunities to build the bridge, continuously promote transport links, provide better logistics services for staff movement and strengthen trade relations,” Hu said.

Unique model

The cross-border bridge is built on a unique concession model. An agreement was signed in Harbin on June 5, 2016, according to which the bridge was built at the expense of non-budgetary sources. The countries set up a joint Russian-Chinese concession company, whose concessionaires were the Amur Oblast Government and the People’s Government of Heilongjiang Province. According to experts, the funds invested in the construction will be repaid in 16 years. Following the completion of the project, the border crossing became the property of the Amur Oblast and Heilongjiang Province, with a distinction in ownership along the Russian-Chinese border.

The construction of the bridge began on December 24, 2016, and was carried out in parallel by both Russian and Chinese specialists. The length of the bridge is 1080 m, the Russian and Chinese sides have built exactly half, each 540 m. Parts are built synchronously on both sides, their connection was made on May 31, 2019. The total length of the bridge is 20 km. This includes 6 km of road in China and 13 km of access roads in Russia.

On the Russian side, 960 people took part in the work, the bridge was built of Russian materials: from supports to hardware.

This is the second cross-border bridge in the Far East. The construction of the first railway, which connects Nizhneleninskoye and Tongjiang (PRC), was completed on April 27, 2022. The bridge is designed for alternative trains on the railway with a track of two standards: width 1520 mm for Russian rolling stock and 1435 mm for Chinese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGNrCq2z9mIYoutube Video

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