Lukashenko explains whether sanctions will affect construction and repair of local roads
As he talked to the Yubileyny agricultural facility’s personnel today, the President of Belarus commented on whether sanctions would affect construction and repair of local roads, and whether this work would continue
“Times will not be easy, and we need to strengthen now. What do we lack? Bitumen is needed for asphalt, as it is the basis – and it is oil. There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped. Sanctions [are in place] against us and against Russia, and oil is not sold so actively as in previous years. There is plenty of it. So what prevents us from producing bitumen?” the Head of State noted.
According to the President, enough oil is available and, moreover, its price is not growing: it is even lower than in the world market. “Bitumen is available, so please use it and cover roads with asphalt. As for concrete casting, I support this approach. We have three large cement plants, and I upgraded them completely in the past. So please use concrete! That is, why not build roads and repair them today? We need not many of them to build, we need rather to maintain the existing ones. We have adopted a programme for construction and modernisation of local roads, and it is in force for the second years, as far as I remember. We are not lagging behind. There are many thousand kilometres of roads, and we are modernising them. We have no reason to curtail this work under any sanctions. We will continue to repair – especially local roads. A district centre should be connected with an agro-town with two-lane roads during this five-year period. We need no autobahns, but there should be good-quality roads. In addition, the roads connecting regions with districts should also be normal.”
Speaking of the impact of sanctions on the economy, the President stressed that Belarusian products enjoy great demand now, and they can be easily sold. “Clothing, food, and our equipment… Our enterprises have not enough time to fulfil all the orders they are receiving. This is how sanctions work. So, you should not worry. We have been strangled by sanctions for twenty years. Well, these scoundrels have imposed simply more severe sanctions now,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
