Half of your mates have probably emigrated to Canada or Australia by this stage, but now we’re hearing that the Russian’s want our Irish construction workers too.
So is it true that Paddy the Plasterer is off to become Bobski the Builder?
Well, it’s true that the Russians are in desperate need of construction workers and seeing as Ireland is flooded with out of work builders it only seems natural that we’ll see a few of our own heading over to the Kremlin in the coming years.
But why Russia of all places? Couldn’t they go somewhere warmer?
They definitely could go somewhere warmer… but there would be no work for them there. You see, Russia is hosting the World Cup and the Winter Olympics within the next eight years so they want to have their infrastructure working 100 per cent before the eyes of the world descends upon them.
Wow, deep. So how much are they investing in their infrastructure?
According to Irish Central, a massive $3 trillion (or €2.5 trillion) is expected to be spent on construction in Russia over the next 10 years, or thereabouts. The main focus will be the rebuilding and expansion of the country’s capital city, Moscow.
Three trillion? What are they doing, doubling the size of Moscow?
Well, pretty much. Instead of doubling the size of Moscow, they intend to make it two and a half times the size it is now. The Russian city of Moscow currently stands at 2,510 km squared, so that will jump to over 6,000 km squared by time the project is complete. That mean’s it’s now roughly the size of Roscommon. However, it will expand to be roughly the same size of Galway or even Cork by time everything is finished.
And there I was thinking Moscow was the size or Ireland… So how do we know that this is all good news for Irish construction workers?
Mainly because the Minister for Trade and Development, Joe Costello, recently visited Moscow and he came back with this to say:
“The whole city of Moscow is going to be rebuilt and regenerated to two-and-a-half times the size it is now. This is going to be the biggest project in the world for the next 10 to 20 years.
“There are trillions to be made from the forecast construction boom, due to the necessity of modernising infrastructure.
“We need to get out there now, as Russia does not have any debt as such. They are in the black, they have to spend the money.”
Great, so when can I sign up?
There will be a Russian job fair hitting the country later in the year – we’ve been told sometime in autumn. So you’ll just have to sit pretty until then. Alternatively you could try to pick up a bit of Russian while you wait and if you need an incentive to do so just think of all those beautiful Russian ladies that will be waiting for you in arrivals.
