Putin says railway, water transport coronavirus-hit industries

MOSCOW, Jun 1 (PRIME) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to include railway passenger transportation and inland water transport in the list of industries hit by the coronavirus, the presidential office said in a statement on Monday.

“The government of the Russian Federation should include in the list of industries of the Russian economy that were the most hurt by the worsening situation due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection the following types of economic activities: transportation of passengers by railway transport, and by inland water transport,” the statement read.

The deadline for inclusion is June 10.

The list of rulings also includes an order for the government to provide of up to 1 billion rubles from the federal budget on subsidization of transit of containers through Russian Federation.

The government should transfer 60.5 billion rubles to Russian Railways from the National Wealth Fund in 2020 to upgrade the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) and the Trans-Siberian Railway (Transsib), including 30.5 billion rubles that the government was to allocate in 2021.

Putin ordered the government to propose provision of 5.8 billion rubles of support to the leasing companies to compensate income shortfalls from delays of leasing payments.

The government must also transfer 320 million rubles to maritime and river cruise companies to compensate spending on leasing contracts.

The list of Putin’s orders also comprises an order to the government to consider allowing stevedore companies to revise tariffs for their services taking into account the changes of the ruble rate.

The government is also to speed up discussions of creation of a special economic zone in the sea port of Olya. The presidential office also said that Putin was waiting for suggestions from the government regarding a mechanism to stimulate coal exports through the ports of Russia’s northwest and south.

(70.7520 rubles – U.S. $1)

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