The government postponed BAM funding for 2020

This year, the company will not have time to spend the previously planned 20.5 billion rubles.

Russian Railways this year will receive from the NWF only half of the funds for the modernization of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway - 19.5 billion rubles. The government decided to postpone the provision of another 20.5 billion rubles. for 2020, instead allocating funds to Russian Railways for another project

Why Railways will not receive 20 billion rubles. from SWF in 2019

The government proposed to suspend the additional issue of preferred shares of Russian Railways by 40 billion rubles, which it planned to redeem with funds from the National Wealth Fund (NWF). This is stated in a letter from the Director of the Department of Economics and Finance of the Government Vasily Toloko to the First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov (RBC has it).

Funds were supposed to be allocated in 2019 for the modernization of the Baikal-Amur (BAM) and Trans-Siberian (Trans-Siberian) highways, but so far the company has received only about half the amount - 19.5 billion rubles.

The representative of the Ministry of Transport confirmed to RBC that the allocation from the NWF about 20 billion of 40 billion rubles. to projects for the modernization of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railroad postponed to 2020

Additional issue of Russian Railways for 40 billion rubles. was registered on October 14th. By the end of the year, Russian Railways needed to carry out another additional issue in order to replenish the company's capital by 8.6 billion rubles. due to a contribution from the federal budget (8.2 billion rubles) for the development of the Mezhdurechensk (Kemerovo region) - Taishet (Irkutsk region) section and the contribution of shares in railway infrastructure (0.4 billion rubles), which are transmitted by RusHydro ". Additional costs for Mezhdurechensk - Tayshet appeared in the budget for 2019 after the introduction of amendments approved by President Vladimir Putin only on December 2.

According to the rules of the Central Bank, two issues cannot be carried out simultaneously - the issue of new shares can begin only after summing up the results of the previous one. The representative of the Ministry of Finance confirmed to RBC the existence of this rule, declining to comment further. “The additional issue [of RUB 8.6 billion] is carried out as advance financing for future periods in accordance with the law on the federal budget for 2019. The funds will be used to develop the infrastructure of the Eastern training ground on the Mezhdurechensk – Tayshet section, ”a representative of Russian Railways told RBC.

Since the Ministry of Transport claims that until the end of November 2019, Russian Railways will be able to use only half of the previously planned amount from the NWF to modernize the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway, “it is necessary to technically suspend the current issue,” Toloko writes. This will allow, until the end of 2019, to take measures to increase the authorized capital of the company by 8.6 billion rubles. as part of a new additional issue, the government official explained in a letter to Siluanov. Just on Tuesday, December 10, the board of directors of Russian Railways determined the terms of the additional issue for the development of the Mezhdurechensk - Tayshet section.

“After the completion of the issue of ordinary shares in the amount of 8.6 billion rubles. Russian Railways will continue to issue preferred shares in the amount of 20.5 billion rubles, ”the letter says Vasily Toloko.

Why does the government contribute money to the capital of Russian Railways

Russian Railways announced plans to invest 110 billion rubles in the integrated development of the Mezhdurechensk-Tayshet railway line. in 2020–2024. This is part of the route by which raw materials, mainly coal, are transported from the Kemerovo region, Khakassia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory to the ports of the Far East, and from there it goes to Asian countries. By 2025, freight traffic should be doubled along this route so that Russia can supply 210 million tons of coal per year. This goal was set by President Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the commission on the development of the fuel and energy complex in August 2018.

The expansion of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the Trans-Siberian Railway, on which the doubling of freight traffic in the east also depends, is constantly being postponed. As RBC wrote, the work planned for this year was not deployed in several stages due to problems with contractors and the project budget was cut by more than 30 billion rubles.

Pavel Ivankin, chairman of the expert council of the Institute for the Study of Railway Transport Problems (IIID), considers the sequence of additional emissions of Russian Railways proposed by the government to be technical. Both projects - the modernization of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway, and the development of the Mezhdurechensk-Tayshet line are significant for the development of the Eastern training ground, he points out. Only the joint implementation of these projects will give the maximum effect, the expert concludes.

Transport Minister Yevgeny Dietrich recently also asked Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to allocate another 39.8 billion rubles to Russian Railways. from the National Welfare Fund for the purchase of electric locomotives and new freight diesel locomotives for driving heavy trains at the Eastern training ground. In 2014, in support of the capital base of systemically important banks, the Ministry of Finance placed 100 billion rubles on a subordinated deposit with VTB Bank. for 30 years at the rate of inflation plus 1% and the condition of early repayment no earlier than five years after the attraction. Of this amount, 60.2 billion were later placed at the rate of attraction in Russian Railways bonds, and the company has not received the remaining 39.8 billion. However, now the Post of Russia claims the same money. “We are in a discussion, discussing. Money is allocated to the most effective [applicants]. I hope that in this sense the Russian Railways will show their effectiveness more than the Russian Post, Dietrich said in an interview with RBC on November 19.

Source: https: //www.rbc.ru/