During a working trip to the Mozyr district, where he participated in the grand opening of the renovated bridge over the Pripyat River, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko was briefed on the plans for road construction in Belarus for the coming years, reports BELTA correspondent.
"We will proceed with reconstruction on a targeted basis. This primarily concerns international transport corridors," reported Minister of Transport and Communications Alexey Lyakhnovich.
This includes, in particular, highways M-3, M-10, R-46, R-99, R-122, as well as the most in-demand sections with significant traffic intensity: R-28, R-53, R-83.
Alexey Lyakhnovich reported on the plans for road reconstruction in the direction of Vitebsk and Polotsk. Currently, all regional centres are connected to Minsk by first-category roads, with the exception of Vitebsk. The M-3 highway Minsk – Vitebsk on the section from Minsk to Lepel, as well as the R-46 highway, serve as a transport corridor towards the port infrastructure of the Leningrad Region of the Russian Federation.
To enhance the efficiency of export-import cargo transportation, the M-3 highway is currently being reconstructed from Pleshchenitsy to the border of the Minsk and Vitebsk regions to meet the parameters of the 1st technical category. Reconstruction of the R-46 road from Lepel to Polotsk is also ongoing, with completion planned for 2026. In turn, major repairs to the R-46 highway from Polotsk to the border with the Russian Federation were carried out in 2024.
"Thus, the centre of the Vitebsk region will be connected to Minsk. And in this regard, people should be grateful that we will accomplish this," concluded the head of state.
Reconstruction is continuing on another international corridor. This is the R-122 highway Mogilev – Chausy. "We have now started a section of the road, and we will complete it in the next five-year period," said Alexey Lyakhnovich. "It's about 40 kilometres."
"If we build a nuclear power plant in the east, we will need to speed up," noted Alexander Lukashenko in response.
Reconstruction of the M-10, which is a highway running from the Russian border to Kobrin, has begun. "When will we build this road to Kobrin?" clarified the head of state.
"We see that on this section, which we have now started from Gomel to Mozyr, we have significant traffic intensity," reported the minister.
Reconstruction of the M-10 highway on the section from Rechitsa to Kalinkovichi, 86 km in length, is being carried out according to the parameters of the 1st technical category with the installation of a cement concrete pavement.
Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that this section, undoubtedly, needs to be done, it is necessary for internal purposes. However, he was not satisfied with the plans to complete this section only by 2029 and proposed to act faster. "To Mozyr (from Gomel. - BELTA note), it should be like from Minsk to Gomel. And we need to speed up," he said. "And from Mozyr further - through Petrikov, Zhytkavichy and to Kobryn - we will put it on pause for now. Maybe something will change."
As noted by the Ministry of Transport, on the M-10 section from Kalinkovichi to Kobryn, 343 km in length, the traffic intensity of vehicles corresponds to the existing road categories. Further maintenance of this section in proper condition is planned.
Part of the report to the minister concerned the President's instruction to test the technology of laying a concrete base of the road over asphalt. Currently, this approach has been applied to a small section of the M-4 highway Minsk-Mogilev, and the experience is successful.
"So, it's suitable? Can we lay concrete over asphalt?" the head of state clarified.
The head of state was informed that with this approach, less work needs to be done, and the cost is also lower compared to reconstruction.
"If it is justified and technologically correct, it must be done," said the President.
It was decided that the main exits from Minsk will be made using a similar technology in order to avoid introducing summer and spring restrictions for heavy trucks in the future. The installation of a cement concrete pavement will significantly improve the quality of pavements on the most heavily loaded road sections and increase the permissible axle load to 11.5 tons.
Separately, Alexander Lukashenko was informed about the instruction to build hard-surfaced roads to agro-towns. "We have roads from regional centers to district centers. There is no center that is not connected to a regional center by a hard surface. We need to go deeper - from the district center to agro-towns," said the head of state.
Previously, the government approved a relevant list for 2025-2026, which includes 34 agro-towns. To ensure the most comfortable access to them, improved road surface was required for sections totaling 156 km. This year, 108 km have been completed to 29 such settlements (most of them in the Vitebsk region), and next year, 5 settlements and 48 km remain.
Alexander Lukashenko noted that this work must be approached very carefully, focusing on promising agro-towns. "If it has been decided that there will be an agro-town, then a road needs to be repaired or built to it," said the head of state. "The main thing is not the agro-town (the formal status of the settlement. - BELTA's note), but the people. If people will live there, build the road. But if we understand that there will be no people there, why are we building such a road? Therefore, we need to review the country as a whole and the Vitebsk region once again. And we will find money to direct."
In the same vein, the head of state urges to act regarding smaller villages. "We must see the dynamics. The prospect. If there are 200 people and people leave every year, and this village will cease to exist, why get involved there? We are statesmen. We must do where it is needed. A review must be carried out to see where not to bury money unnecessarily," he said.
Overall, by the end of the state program for 2021-2025, it is expected that 18 thousand km of republican and local roads will be repaired and reconstructed, as well as 24 thousand linear meters of bridge structures on them (477 units).
One of the five priorities envisaged by the concept of the socio-economic development program of Belarus for the next five-year period is the priority "Quality Roads - New Roads to Modern Quality Standards". Among the main tasks for the implementation of this priority is the repair and reconstruction of 25 thousand km of public roads.
The Ministry of Transport, together with interested parties, has prepared a draft state program "Roads of Belarus" for 2026-2030.