A group of Iranian companies expressed their interest in investing in the Russian port of Lagan, Batu Khasikov, governor of the Kalmykia Republic, Russia, said during a press-conference in early March 2020.
The transshipment capacity of the port of Lagan is expected to be 22.5 million tonnes of cargo per year. For comparison, the total capacity of all Russian seaports on the Caspian Sea amounts to 7.5 million tonnes. According to Khasikov, building the port of Lagan could significantly expand cargo flow between Russia and Iran.
The construction would cost an estimated RUB100 billion (USD1.6 billion), Vitaly Daginov, general director of the port of Lagan said during a press-conference in 2019. The cost is high as relevant infrastructure would also need to be built around, including a highway and railway connection, and ship automatic traffic systems, Daginov estimated.
POLY Group and China Energy Engineering Group International have confirmed their plans to invest in the construction of the port. Chinese investors are primarily interested in the port because of the transit opportunities it may offer, Daginov commented.
China exports USD600 billion worth of goods per year to Europe and some part of that flow could be re-directed to pass through the port of Lagan, he added. The state-of-the-art year-round sea port could become an important element of the new transport corridor in the region, Daginov added.
So far, the pool of investors for the project has not been formed completely, and so the construction is pending. Under the project the depth of the sea port should be deepened to 13 meters. The regional authorities earlier reported that dredging operations would begin at the end of 2019, but so far no works have been planned.
