SAKHALIN NEEDS FIRM LINKS WITH MAINLAND








MOSCOW, March 6. /RIA Novosti correspondent Alexander Fyodorov/. The current situation on Sakhalin, which because of a raging cyclone cannot be reached either by ferry boats or aircraft, is another forceful reminder of the need for a reliable transport link with the continent. In the near future experts look like finalising a nearly fifty-year-old history of building either a tunnel under the Tatar Strait or a bridge to make the island free of nature caprices and also to resolve a mass of economic and social problems. This was said in an exclusive interview on Tuesday by First Deputy Railways Minister Alexander Misharin.


	An attempt to construct a tunnel was first undertaken in 1953. People were already aware then that it was necessary to a have a dependable route to transport material resources in large quantities. But Stalin's death put a stop to the project for a number of reasons, among them economic ones, Misharin noted. 


	A consortium has been set up today with the task of studying the options - whether to build a bridge from the island to the mainland or a tunnel under the strait. Feasibility studies of both have been launched. A final choice will be made public in September.