Transport infrastructure of the Republic of Crimea: constraints and prospects of development

The Republic of Crimea has the potential and opportunities for the development of the agricultural and industrial complex, foreign trade relations, and the tourism cluster. However, the lack of modern transport infrastructure is a serious limiting factor for the economic growth of the region. The organization of transport and logistic flows in modern conditions is difficult due to both political and economic factors. It is the current state of the infrastructure which causes additional costs for shipping carriers. According to statistics of the Federal State Statistics Service in the Republic of Crimea, high transportation costs are the third most important limiting factor in the development (after the insolvency of buyers and the lack of financial resources) of the peninsula’s trading sector. Creating and modernizing the infrastructure is a systemic task connected both with the improvement of the logistics efficiency of the Crimea and directly with the intensification of the manufacturing sectors, and with the integration of these areas into the economy of the Russian Federation. In order to increase the capacity of freight and passenger transportation, it is necessary to reconstruct the entire transport system of the peninsula. Large-scale projects transforming the transport framework of the peninsula include the construction of the Crimean Bridge, the “Tavrida” highway and the new terminal of the International Airport “Simferopol”. The article shows that developing port and logistics facilities, implementing related investment projects require creating an accompanying social and engineering infrastructure. Improving the transport constituent will give a powerful impulse to the development of the tourism sector, will allow to implement the social and economic opportunities of the peninsula by increasing the tourist flow, reducing the cost of transportation, marketing and delivery of goods and the growth of transport accessibility of the territories.