[sparkscoffee] Chinese investments No. 2
- From: Dry Turtles <dryturtles@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: sparkscoffee@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 20 May 2014 15:06:34 -0700
Chinese companies will be first foreign investors in economy of the Russian
Republic of Crimea after the peninsula’s reunification with Russia.
A Chinese construction company and a private investment fund may be
involved in construction of a transport corridor to Crimea across the Kerch
Strait at the cost of $ 1.2-3 billion with some part of the project to be
invested in yuan, Kommersant daily learnt.
This is primarily a political step which shows build-up of relations
between Moscow and Beijing amid Western sanctions and China may also
receive access to other major projects in the region, the daily sources
said. But, in the view of experts, it will be difficult for Russian
companies to participate in infrastructure projects in Crimea after Chinese
companies enter the market.
The Transport Ministry prepares to conclude with Chinese companies a
memorandum on building a transport corridor across the Kerch Strait which
will connect southern Russia’s Krasnodar Territory and Crimea, sources said
to the daily. A technical blueprint of the project is not approved yet, as
this may be a combined motor-railway bridge or a bridge and an underwater
tunnel. The memorandum may be signed during President Vladimir Putin’s
visit to China in the second half of May, the daily sources said. China
International Fund Ltd (CIF) is expected to fund the project and China
Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) will build it.
The Transport Ministry refrained from any comments. But sources close to
the Transport Ministry and Russian motor road authority which is developing
a feasibility study of the project confirmed the news report. “A final
configuration of the project is still being developed, but it is quite real
that a Chinese construction company may be involved in fulfilling a
considerable part of works as the latter has an experience of implementing
major infrastructure projects,” meanwhile, “there is an opportunity to fund
the construction project in yuan partially,” a daily source said.
CIF positions itself as a private company which funds infrastructure
projects, particularly major projects in Angola and Guinea. CIF does not
disclose its financial results. State-run CRCC, one of largest construction
companies in the world, builds railways and highways, bridges and tunnels.
Along with China the company implements projects in Libya and Saudi Arabia.
CRCC revenues reached $93.6 billion and its net profit - $1.6 billion in
2013.
First published by Itar-Tass.
Scotty
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