MOSCOW — Addressing representatives of the European Business Club (EBC) today, Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Yakovlev, said the government plans to enact a federal law on toll roads in 2004.

Stressing that the task of transportation-network development requires huge financing, he noted that insufficient development of motorable roads in Russia has a negative impact on Russian economy and hampers the evolution of regions with rich recourses. “Up to 20 percent of major roads are currently overloaded, and we are of the opinion that the introduction of toll roads will help to unload them. This is a part of government transport strategy”, he said. However, he also noted that only roads that allow drivers to save time on entering large cities would fall under the jurisdiction of the law, Izvestia reports.

On the whole, however, Yakovlev decried the acute shortage of modern roads in the country. “Presently, we need to build approximately 1.5 million kilometers of new roads in order to normalize the situation on Russian roads. Currently, there are about only 900,000 kilometers pliable roads in the country,” he added.