Across the Kerch Strait bridge building

The press service of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, Ukraine, has confirmed that during the celebrations of Russian Navy Day in Simferopol, Crimea, the Moscow city government and the autonomy's leaders signed a protocol on the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait.

The bridge will be seven kilometers long, including the length of the access roads. Its construction will cost around $1 billion. All the present blueprints of the bridge show it as three-tier, with a four-lane motor road, a railway bed, and pipelines.

The parties to the protocol have agreed to build the project in two stages. The first stage will see the establishment of the Kerch Strait public joint-stock company with a charter capital of 550000 rubles. 74 percent of the company's shares will belong to Moscow, and 26% will go to the Crimea's State Property Fund. 23 percent of Moscow's stake will be offered to South Russia's Krasnodar Territory, on whose soil the Russia end of the bridge will stand. This will leave Moscow with no more than 51%.

The Moscow Mayor's Office told that it would allocate the money on a repayable basis in proportion with the shareholders' stakes in the company's capital. Moscow City always finances such projects from its off-budget funds. «Moscow wouldn't have undertaken the project if it weren't gainful to the city», the Mayor's Office said.

access road — подъездная железная дорога

blueprint — проект

stake — доля капитала

three-tier — трехъярусный

pipeline — трубопровод

four-lane — четырехрядный

joint-stock — акционерный

charter capital — уставной капитал

shareholder — вкладчик, акционер

allocate — размещать

off-budget — внебюджетный

gainful — выгодный