Vladivostok Zolotoi Rog bridge builders working ahead of schedule.

VLADIVOSTOK, March 30 (Itar-Tass) - The builders of the bridge across
the Zolotoi Rog bay in Vladivostok on Tuesday completed ahead of schedule
an important stage of the work. In just three months they have assembled
almost 2,000 tonnes of metal structures - longitudinal girders needed for
concreting of the bridge's floor, the press centre of the Primorsky
Territory administration told Itar-Tass.
The work that has been carried out is unique for Russia. The
constructors had to work at a height of 60 metres all the time, the
administration noted. At present the workers have started the assembly of
middle girders on top the longitudinal ones. This structure will ensure
durability of the concreting. When the floor between the bridge pillars is
fully concreted the girders will be disassembled.
The bridge across the Zolotoi Rog bay is one of the facilities that
will be built in Vladivostok for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) forum's summit that will be held in 2012. It will become part of a
new transport system of the Primorye territorial centre and will link
central Vladivostok with the city's Pervomaisky district on the Churkin
Peninsula. The planned length of the future bridge is about 1,400 metres,
the main bridge span is to be 733 metres long. The height above the water
surface is 60 metres. The total length of the facility with traffic
interchanges will exceed two kilometres.
Over 40 large facilities are to be built for the 2012 APEC summit in
Vladivostok, including roads, bridges, hotels, water and power supply
facilities.
The construction of the second mini thermal power plant "Tsentralnaya"
(Central) for the supply of electricity to APEC facilities has been
launched on the Russky Island. Operations aimed at the arrangement of
temporary facilities: a settlement for construction shift workers, the
installation of a mini plant for the production of concrete for building
foundations for energy facilities are currently in progress. When this
phase ends, the active phase of the mini power plant's construction will
be launched, head of the information policy service of the Daltekhenergo
company engaged in the construction Anastasia Brazhina told Itar-Tass on
Tuesday.
According to her, the new power facility the construction of which
will cost 830 million roubles, will be commissioned this November. The
construction of the "Severnaya" (Northern) mini thermal power plant is
continuing simultaneously. Its construction was started last September.
The laying of engineering networks of the water pipeline, sewage system
and installation of fire-fighting tanks is currently underway.
According to Daltekhenergo director general Viktor Sukhanov, the
construction of generating facilities within the framework of preparations
for the APEC summit is first of all a social project, because after this
international forum the built capacities will ensure stable electricity
supply of Vladivostok, in particular, Far Eastern Federal University and
research institutes that will be built on the Russky Island.
This year, in accordance with the special federal programme, the
financing of the construction work in the Russky Island will amount to
29.3 billion roubles - 4.5 times more than in 2009. Last year a total
value of the construction work was 6.5 billion roubles.
It has been decided to build dwellings for residents of the Russky
Island - 18 families, whose houses in the village of Ayaks were pulled
down to clear the space for Far Eastern Federal University, as well as 150
people from other villages of the island, who live in ramshackle
dwellings, will be given flats in new low-storey houses.
The APEC Russia 2012 summit will be the twenty-fourth annual gathering
of APEC leaders. The summit on the Russky Island will see the building of
resorts, dinner and entertainment facilities, in addition to the
renovation and upgrading of Vladivostok International Airport.
At APEC Vietnam 2006 in Hanoi, Russia put forward a proposal to host
the 2012 summit. Originally, Patrokl Bay was suggested as the site. The
original plan was to build a palace to host the actual summit, and a
number of five-star hotels for visitors. After the summit, the palace
would be converted into a wedding palace, its conference centre - into the
Theatre of Opera and Ballet, and the hotels - into residential buildings.
The proposal put forward for Russia to hold the 2012 summit on Russky
Island, which during the Soviet-era was a closed military island, was
confirmed at the end of the APEC Australia 2007 summit in Sydney,
Australia. At a press conference in Sydney, Primorsky Krai governor Sergei
Darkin estimated the cost of hosting the summit at 147.5 billion roubles.
The construction of infrastructure serving the summit, by Darkin experts'
estimates, would aid economic development in the Russian Far East and
would see more than a six-fold increase of the Gross Regional Product of
Primorsky Krai by 2020.
Zolotoi Rog Bay is a sheltered horn-shaped bay separated from the
Peter the Great Gulf of the Sea of Japan by Shkota Peninsula on the
north-west, Cape Goldobina on the east-north-east, and Cape Tigrovy on the
west. The bay is seven km long, with a width of about two km and a depth
ranging from 20 to 27 metres. The Russian port of Vladivostok lies on the
hills at the head of the bay.
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