The government will tax metallurgists and fertilizer producers with taxes in favor of Russian Railways projects

The Kremlin will make deductions to railway projects (Moscow-Kazan VSM and the Sakhalin bridge) mandatory for private companies. The cost of these projects is more than 2 trillion rubles.
12.09.2018
Kommersant
Origin source
The state can attract large private companies from the "Belousov list" and their beneficiaries to co-finance the Moscow-Kazan high-speed highway (BCM) and the Sakhalin bridge with a total value of over 2 trillion rubles. While these projects are unattractive for business: according to financial models, the VSM has a negative NPV, and the bridge to Sakhalin will pay off for 36 years. It is necessary that the state provide market-based instruments for participation in such projects to the owners, since for the companies themselves, investments will still be non-core, analysts say.

OAO RZD sees as an investment object for companies from the "Belousov list" VSM and the bridge to Sakhalin. This was reported on September 11 by the first deputy head of the monopoly Alexander Misharin, specifying that Russian Railways itself offered these projects. "List of Belousov" - large private mining and metals and chemical companies, part of their profits, presidential aide Andrei Belousov in the summer offered to redirect to the execution of the May decrees of Vladimir Putin. The initiative was reborn in a working group to discuss the "contribution" of companies in projects important for the economy (see "Kommersant" on August 25). It was assumed that state companies will offer investment projects to big business.

The profile vice-premier Maxim Akimov supported Mr. Misharin. "This idea is worth it to work on it very well," TASS quotes him. "It seems to me that there definitely is a meaning there." "It is clear that VSM has a very large package of consequences for the national economy," Mr. Akimov says. It's new metal, traction, power, computing power, "because it's a new motion control system." But "it is important that the financial model is attractive," he added.

Now, as "Kommersant" wrote on September 3, the financial model of the Moscow-Kazan VSM worth 1.69 trillion rubles. It is unattractive without a capital grant from the budget of 700 billion rubles. and has a negative net present value (NPV) - minus 641.9 billion rubles. According to a Kommersant source familiar with the situation, last week the Strategy Committee of the Board of Directors of JSC Russian Railways considered the matter and did not agree on the SCM either in full version (Moscow-Kazan) or within the Moscow-Vladimir section. The final decision is proposed to the government. According to the interlocutor of Kommersant, the officials who participated in the discussion noted that there was no money for the grant. In Mr. Akimov's office, Kommersant confirmed the fact of the meeting of the SCM committee, but declined to comment (Russian Railways did the same).

For the transition to Sakhalin with a bridge totaling 540.3 billion rubles. without VAT OJSC RZD is still trying to attract private capital - in concession for the construction of a bridge, the whole route or a route with a coal port on Sakhalin, which can form the project's freight base (see "Kommersant" on August 21). Without the port, according to the estimates of JSC Russian Railways, IRR project - 7.5%, payback - 36 years, NPV - 125.1 billion rubles.

Companies from the "Belousov list" do not comment on the idea. At first glance, financial participation in the SCM looks ambiguous, it is more logical to develop the infrastructure in the regions of presence, most of the interlocutors of Kommersant believe in the companies of the list. Thus, MMK, RMK and ChTPZ entered the capital of the project company for the Chelyabinsk-Yekaterinburg-Khabarovsk Krai - KhP Ural Expressway. One of the interlocutors of Kommersant notes that megaprojects can give a multiplicative effect and provide metallurgists with new orders, while another notes that in exchange for participating in megaprojects, subsidies for private investors are being discussed. But the construction of a branch from the Elginsky coal deposit to BAM (321 km, investment - $ 2 billion) almost led to the bankruptcy of Mechel, recalled the main shareholder of the company Igor Zyuzin at the meeting of Andrey Belousov with the business on August 24. The interlocutors of Kommersant note that it is intended to attract beneficiaries of the companies to megaprojects.

Sources "Kommersant" note that while the companies have not seen the list of state projects, although they themselves on September 6 have already submitted their investment projects to the working group for 6 trillion rubles. According to the interlocutors of "Kommersant", the business hopes that their projects will be taken into account to the maximum, and participation in state projects will be voluntary and with the element of competition: the most attractive will go to the first ones declared. Will it be possible not to participate in state projects, if the companies and their shareholders prove the existence of a large-scale investment program in Russia, is unclear. There are already attempts to deny: on September 11, the co-owner of NOVATEK and SIBUR (included in the "Belousov list") Leonid Mikhelson said that these companies with multi-billion investments and plans already make "a sufficient contribution to the investment program of Russia". Sources "Kommersant" note that there are still no criteria for assessing investprivlekatelnosti and selection of projects, and on September 6, offered to hire a consultant with market experience. This role is considered including VEB, whose head Igor Shuvalov is a member of the group.

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