Moscow city authorities doubt the need to provide funding to Moscow's Fourth Ring Road project on a priority basis, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Monday.
Due to large-scale building demolition and clearance work involved, the project's construction costs are too high - at 7 billion rubles ($230 million) per kilometer, or 500 billion rubles ($16 billion) overall, he said.
The final decision will be made after consultations with federal transportation ministry experts, Sobyanin said.
Moscow already has the Garden Ring, about 3 km around the center, the Third Ring Road, 5-6 km away from the center, and the Outer Ring Road, demarcating the city boundaries, 17-20 km from the center.
Sobyanin has pledged to eliminate Moscow's notorious traffic jams.
The total length of traffic jams in Moscow last Wednesday evening reached 2,850 km, which is equal to the distance between the Russian capital and Siberia's Novosibirsk.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said the elimination of traffic jams is a "viability test" for the federal government and a key to making the capital a world financial hub.
MOSCOW, December 27 (RIA Novosti)