The European North of Russia: Strategic Priorities for the Spatial Development

Abstract

For Russia, as the largest country in the world, the availability and quality for functioning of its transport infrastructure is one of the key factors determining the level of the country’s economic and social development. Since 2019 Russia has been implementing the Federal project “Comprehensive Plan for the Modernization and Expansion of the Core Infrastructure of the Russian Federation”
(hereinafter — the Plan). The strategic document is aimed at addressing the issues of the Russian transportation system development. In the article we reflect modifications to the Federal project and observe a current composition of the federal projects within the Plan. We have reviewed the interim results of the Plan implementation in terms of the transportation part and identified the key trends. The study showed that in 2019 almost all performance indicators were achieved within the transportation part of the Plan, while in 2020 and 2021 deviations were observed in a significant part of the indicators. We have identified the key risks in measures implementation and targets achievement conditioned by geopolitical and economic instability, as well as increased pressure of sanctions from “unfriendly” countries on Russia. The risks are as follows: the failure to increase the volume of container freight and export of transport services; the problem of import substitution of vehicles and equipment for their production; a lack of financing and refusal to fulfill obligations on the part of private investors; risks of failure by contractors to perform work efficiently and on time; a risk of increasing the load on the infrastructure of rail and road transportation, increased
cargo delivery time.