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Building a Tunnel under the Bering Strait to Be on G20 Agenda?

According to Russian Federation Council member Aslambek Aslakhanov, the century-old plan to build a tunnel under the Bering Strait, linking Russia to Alaska, is likely to be on the agenda of the G20 summit hosted by South Korea in November. In a live interview to Novosti aired Aug 23, he said that while political issues have prevented construction of this project to date, "as far as we know, our South Korean colleagues will put this project on the agenda." Both Aslakhanov, who was an advisor to former President (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin, and geography expert Alexander Bgatov, emphasized the critical role of this project for the industrial development of the entire region, by linking four continents.

Aslakhanov, who represents the Siberian region of Omsk, said that, in the Russian government, "the overall attitude is positive" to the Bering Strait tunnel project. "One main advantage," he said, "will be creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs," as well as the "opportunity to build new houses, whole new communities, and develop industry and the whole region." Moreover, it could provide access to new mineral deposits.

In a 1997 conference, the Russian government agreed to actively pursue the project, and all the necessary documents had been signed. But "political change" got in the way, Aslakhanov said. Now, "we need to show the political will to translate the project into reality," he said.

Although some economists doubt the economic viability of the project, Aslakhanov says "they are too young to see the big picture; they only consider the project as such, without thinking about the industrial and regional development the project could bring," he said. Most of the leading Russian and foreign economists and experts believe the project is "very promising." It would take 10-12 years to complete, and pay for itself in another 10-12 years.

Claims that it will be a net loss, are "incomprehensible," he said, since the tunnel "would connect four continents and would spur the development of several regions in this country." Many countries are interested in building this project, and the prospect of earning solid dividends from long-term investments.

Bgatov pointed out that construction of the railroad tunnel, the idea of which is over 100 years old, was prevented first by the Russo-Japanese war, then, the October (1917) Revolution, and other events. But in the 1990s, a group of specialists from the U.S., Russia, and the U.K., set up a non-profit corporation to study the project, and this group concluded that it had been known since 1902, that the railroad was feasible. They have already done many studies of the technological background.

The project has "enormous potential", according to Bgatov. The concept has now gone beyond a railroad tunnel to the "construction of a major transportation route," which would include high-speed electric trains, an eight-lane highway, power lines, oil and gas pipelines, fiber optic cables, and other infrastructure.

The major impact, Bgatov said, will not be having the railroad itself, but "the project's influence on the development of the regions through which it will pass," which is incalculable. He pointed to the Trans-Siberian Railroad, which economists had claimed would not pay for itself, but it did so in only six years! Beyond that, it made Russia a continental nation: "Without the Trans-Siberian, our borders would be very different today," Bgatov said.

There is, however, substantial opposition to the project from the monetarist factions, both in Russia and the United States. One long-term proposal by the WWF to impose an international nature preserve on the Bering Strait and surrounding area, the so-called Beringian Heritage project, was reactivated in 2009 by the Obama Administration and would prevent any infrastructure development.

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