By Sergey Smirnov
French CSM Bessac is to supply innovative equipment worth about 12m Euros to help dig the third Minsk metro line, enabling construction to be speeded up. Alexander Kudelko, the Head of Minskmetrostroy enterprise, tells us, “It will be the first time in Minsk metro construction that we’ll be using a mechanised tunnelling shield, enabling us to work more quickly.” He notes that 250m of tunnels will be dug per month (up from 40m-70m at present).
The Minsk City Executive Committee and the Development Bank have signed a memorandum on financing the construction of the third Minsk metro line, allocating Br450bn. “Additionally, we’ve almost received confirmation of a loan from the Development Bank: a separate amount of money for this specific purpose,” adds Mr. Kudelko.
The President of CSM Bessac, Bernard Theron, notes that the equipment is large and heavy, so will travel to Belarus in pieces, for assembly on site. He explains, “A similar device dug the underwater Channel tunnel between France and the UK. In fact, that was some time ago, so the machine for Minsk is more modern and efficient, although it operates in the same way.”
