Sayeed Muhammad of DOT :
With some politicians still facing trouble getting their walls built, Russia announced having finished a border between Ukraine and Crimea that took over a year and cost less than $3 million. Efforts for building the two-meter tall, 60-kilometer long fence separating the peninsula from Ukraine opened in September 2017, reports RT news. The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the project’s completion on Thursday, while the contract was estimated at approximately $2.87 million.
The fence is also reportedly equipped with high-technology surveillance devices, from vibration sensors to night vision cameras.
Russia’s ability to build a fence so quickly and at a fairly low cost has already prompted some commentary about US President Donald Trump and his inability to even start construction of his wall on the border with Mexico.
Among other remarks was the suggestion by one self-described American Russophile that Russia should be given the contract to build Trump’s wall. If the price of the Crimea fence were extrapolated for the length of the southern US border, that could be done for about $150 million, he said.
The US House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill with $5.3 billion for the wall and other border security measures earlier this month, but Democrats have refused to approve any funding for the wall, at all, ever. Trump has threatened to close the entire border if the obstruction continues.
The impasse has led to a partial US government shutdown that has already lasted a week and shows no sign of ending any time soon.
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