The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has allocated UAH 800 million to continue the construction of a bridge across the Dnipro River in Zaporizhia in 2013, the press service of the Infrastructure Ministry has reported, citing Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkul.

"In 2013, the government allocated UAH 800 million to continue the construction of this bridge. The first tranche of UAH 183 million has already been paid, and it will help boost construction work," he said at a visiting meeting at the construction site in Zaporizhia.

The ministry noted that the bridge across the Dnipro River in Zaporizhia is infrastructure of strategic importance, and part of the E105 European route that runs from Norway through Russia to Ukraine.

"The commissioning of this highway will improve the transit potential of the region and the country and relieve the city center of heavy vehicle traffic. Vehicles in the region currently move across the dam of the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant, which was built in the 1930s, and through two bridges that were built over 50 years ago. These facilities cannot cope with extra load, which complicates road traffic," reads the press release.

The ministry noted that the highway across the Dnipro River in Zaporizhia has been under construction since 2004. The cost of the project is UAH 5.9 billion. Some UAH 1.9 billion was invested in construction work over almost nine years, and half of the facility was built.

"Moreover, 90% of the construction work was conducted in 2012, when the work was transferred to state control," reads the press release.