TRANSPORTATION

Airports

There are three big airports in the Republic: Kazan (is connected with airports ot Tatarstan, Russia, CIS, countries, International Airlines); Begishevo (serves the cities of Naberezhnye Cheiny, Nizhnekamsk, Elabuga, Zairlsk and connects the cities of Tatarstan, Russia and CIS countries) and Bugulma (serves the cities of Bugulnla, Alrnetyevsk, Leninogorsk, Aznakayevo and connects the cities of Tatarstan, Russia and CIS countries). Besides, there are 17 airports serving local lines only.

River ports

The main river port of the Republic is Kazan, which is the largest port on the Volga river. The other significant ports are on the Kama river- Nabereshnye Cheiny, Elabuga. Krasny Kljuch (city of Mfzhnekamsk), Chistopol. The period of stable navigation is May-October.

Railways

The total length of railways on the territory ot Tatarstan makes 917 km, of which 247 km are electrified. The railways running through cities of Zelenodolsk, Kazan, Agryz (a section of the route Moscow - Ekatermburg) and through oil-producing regions of the Southeast part of the Republic (a section of the route Moscow - Chelyabinsk) are of great significance. Also important are meridian ways Zeienodolsk- Ulyanovsk and Agryz - Bugulma.

Roads

The base of the transportation network are roads (total length is 16.500 km, including 15,200 km with tarred covering). The roads of the greatest significance are Moscow- Nlzhny Novgorod-Kazan; Kazan-Elabuga-Naberezhnye Chelny-Nizhnekamsk; Naberezhnye Chelny-Zainsk-Almetyevsk.

Pipelines

Tatarstan is the biggest centre of pipeline transportation system in the Eastern Europe. The basic oil and gas pipelines radlally diverge from Almetyevsk-Bugulma industrial centre towards Mortheast (Perm), East (Ufa), Southeast (Orenburg), Southwest (Samara) and West (Kazan). The city of Almetyevsk is the starting point of "DRUZBA" oil-pipeline, through which oil of Tatarstan is transported to European countries. There is a product-pipeline between the centres of gas-refinery and petrochemistry - Almetyevsk, Nizhnekamsk and Kazan. Transcontinental gas-pipelines Urengoy-Central Russia and Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod run through the North-West part of the Republic.

Bringing the historic transport hub into the 21st centuary, a modern logistic Center is under development near Kazan with support from the European Union TACIS program. The Logistics Center win be adjacent to many large industrial enterprises at the centuries-old transportation juncture between the Middle East, Russia and Scandinavia. An international-scale terminal will operate as a free economic zone, providing major ware house facilities, consignment and distribution of foreign trade commodities for a region encompassing a market of 80 million people.

The airport win undergo reconstruction to enable ICAO category II and III aircraft to land, enabling Kazan to serve as a link between Europe and the Middle East and Asia. A number of European companies are pursuing investment in reconstructing the Kazan airport, including British Aerospace.