MINSK, 30 December (BelTA) – We need to give momentum to the construction of new metro stations, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he attended a ceremony to launch the new section of the third line of Minsk metro on 30 December, BelTA learned.
"Everything seems to be going well with the construction projects, but they are moving slowly. Catastrophically slowly. Everything is comparative. Moscow builds faster, while our workers seem to putter around under the ground like moles. Things seem to be good: new stations opened, the president attended… But we need to work faster, twice as fast," Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Vladimir Kukharev said that plans are in place to buy a second Alesya tunnel boring machine to speed up the construction of new metro stations.
Construction of the new 4.08km-long section of the third line of Minsk metro from Aerodromnaya station to Slutsky Gostinets station was launched in August 2017. About 90% of the equipment and materials used are Belarus-made. Minsk metro carried 249 million passengers in 2024. It is expected that with the commissioning of three new stations the traffic will increase to 260 million.
"In general, three new stations cost Br832 million, which is about $70 million per kilometer in equivalent. Our neighbors spend twice as much," Vladimir Kukharev pointed out.
According to Vladimir Kukharev, the metro accounts for about 40% of the total passenger transportation in the city. This year the number of transported passengers increased by 8%, revenue from the sale of services rose by 12%, and the company's profit - by 10%. The salary of the metro employees has also gone up. This year it rose by 16% over the previous year. The company employs 4,600 people.
“Today it is a subsidized form of transportation, because one trip costs Br2.12. Meanwhile metro users pay Br0.90. The subsidy comes from the city budget - about Br134 million annually,” Vladimir Kukharev said.
“We subsidize almost half of it. It's not very good,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Vladimir Kukharev noted that Minsk is already starting to design the fourth metro line. It will be a ring line.
“According to the general plan, these will be 25 kilometers and 17 stations. We plan to start from this side after the completion of the Park of Friendship of Peoples [the station of the third metro line under construction], taking into account the construction of a large neighborhood North Waterfront and distrcits with more than 800,000 people [Frunzenski and Moskovski districts],” the mayor of Minsk said.
The head of state took the opportunity to ask about the progress in the construction of the North Waterfront (Severny Bereg) neighborhood. The Minsk mayor remarked that the neighborhood is being rapidly built up and the investor preferred low-rise buildings.
The president also recalled his order to connect Minsk with its satellite cities: "We need to connect them with a reliable transport, an elevated metro. And let the metro builders do it. They are good guys, but they are working slowly. We will try to fund it properly."
Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee Vladimir Kukharev said that plans are in place to buy a second Alesya tunnel boring machine to speed up the construction of new metro stations.
Construction of the new 4.08km-long section of the third line of Minsk metro from Aerodromnaya station to Slutsky Gostinets station was launched in August 2017. About 90% of the equipment and materials used are Belarus-made. Minsk metro carried 249 million passengers in 2024. It is expected that with the commissioning of three new stations the traffic will increase to 260 million.
"In general, three new stations cost Br832 million, which is about $70 million per kilometer in equivalent. Our neighbors spend twice as much," Vladimir Kukharev pointed out.
“It is expensive, but there is no way around it. We need to create a really good metro system in Minsk,” the president said.
According to Vladimir Kukharev, the metro accounts for about 40% of the total passenger transportation in the city. This year the number of transported passengers increased by 8%, revenue from the sale of services rose by 12%, and the company's profit - by 10%. The salary of the metro employees has also gone up. This year it rose by 16% over the previous year. The company employs 4,600 people.
“Today it is a subsidized form of transportation, because one trip costs Br2.12. Meanwhile metro users pay Br0.90. The subsidy comes from the city budget - about Br134 million annually,” Vladimir Kukharev said.
“We subsidize almost half of it. It's not very good,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Vladimir Kukharev noted that Minsk is already starting to design the fourth metro line. It will be a ring line.
“According to the general plan, these will be 25 kilometers and 17 stations. We plan to start from this side after the completion of the Park of Friendship of Peoples [the station of the third metro line under construction], taking into account the construction of a large neighborhood North Waterfront and distrcits with more than 800,000 people [Frunzenski and Moskovski districts],” the mayor of Minsk said.
The head of state took the opportunity to ask about the progress in the construction of the North Waterfront (Severny Bereg) neighborhood. The Minsk mayor remarked that the neighborhood is being rapidly built up and the investor preferred low-rise buildings.
The president also recalled his order to connect Minsk with its satellite cities: "We need to connect them with a reliable transport, an elevated metro. And let the metro builders do it. They are good guys, but they are working slowly. We will try to fund it properly."
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