MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) – Chinese companies are ready to invest 400 billion rubles ($10.8 billion) in a project to construct Russia’s first high-speed rail line between Moscow and Kazan, a spokesman for a Russian Railways subsidiary told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
“[Chinese companies] are ready to attract and accumulate these funds [400 billion rubles] and use them for project financing of the Moscow-Kazan high-speed rail line,” a spokesman for Skorostniye Magistrali said.
First Deputy President of Russian Railways and Director General of Skorostniye Magistrali Aleksander Misharin held negotiations with China’s investment and construction companies in July.
The talks also focused on using new technologies during the construction of the project, Misharin said.
The road show, involving a total of 172 companies, including investment funds and construction companies, was held in March. European and US companies also showed interest in developing the project.
The Moscow-Kazan high-speed rail project is worth 1 trillion rubles ($27 billion), with around 380 billion rubles ($10.2 billion) in government funding.
According to Russian Direct Investment Fund, China has plans to invest $20 billion into domestic projects in Russia, particularly in infrastructure, and Beijing is aiming to increase investment in Russia four-fold by 2020.
