The second Minsk ring road (MKAD-2) is now open to traffic. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko cut the ribbon during the opening ceremony on 22 December, BelTA has learned.

The opening ceremony was delayed. The Belarusian head of state explained he had had to meet with ex-president of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma earlier that day. “When the president of Ukraine sends another president, then certainly we had to meet and have a talk. This is why in the early morning we discussed the problems that unite Ukraine and Belarus,” said Alexander Lukashenko.

Addressing the workers representing the road construction companies that built the second Minsk ring road, Alexander Lukashenko thanked them for a job well done. In his words, the new motorway is beautiful and reliable. “Many years later we will take pride in having built such a road,” the President was convinced.

Alexander Lukashenko made a few remarks about progress in reconstructing the Minsk-Grodno motorway. “I would very much like the World Bank to finance the reconstruction of this road. Certainly, the bank lends money and the money is cheap. Such loans are profitable for us. But it was important for me to preserve the workforce and to give work to our construction companies. Work at the expense of European money or world money. You did well by winning the tender. But if we hadn't built this road, we would not have this contract. Now we can act as customers and contractors because we have the relevant construction experience. Everyone at the level of the World Bank recognizes our ability to build motorways two or three times cheaper than our neighbors build such roads,” pointed out the head of state.

After addressing the road construction workers the President travelled along the freshly built section of the second Minsk ring road in a contemporary urban bus made by MAZ. He was made familiar with technical parameters and the accomplishment of the second Minsk ring road.

The new ring road around Minsk is about 160km long. New roads represent as much as 88km of the total length while existing motorways make up 72km of the second Minsk ring road.

The MKAD-2 design process took into account the existing network of motorways, current and future homes, borders of recreation zones, protected areas and places of historical value.