Tens of billions of rubles have been spent on the development of projects, the payment of advances and the construction of the M12 Moscow-Kazan highway over the past two years. But it is impossible to find out whether these expenses are justified, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation noted. Projects related to the mega-construction have not yet passed the state examination. The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation checked how budgetary funds were spent on the construction of the Europe-Western China highway, the results of the check are available. The financing of the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod-Kazan (M12) expressway, which is part of the international transport corridor, was studied in detail.

The entire M12 highway was originally estimated at 1.3 trillion rubles. As a result, the project amount was almost halved - at the expense of ready-made highways that will simply be expanded and modernized. The very construction of the Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod-Kazan highway will cost 539.5 billion rubles. Another 115.5 billion rubles will be spent on a bypass highway around Tolyatti and a bridge across the Volga.

In 2020 and until October 1, 2021, 91.5 billion rubles were allocated from the treasury for the construction of this route. (The rest of the project financing is included in the budget, but in fact the money was not transferred to their managers). Of these, the state company Avtodor has already spent 65.8 billion rubles. However, the auditors could not confirm that exactly such amounts were spent on the development of project documentation and construction.

"Due to the lack of positive conclusions of state expertise on project documentation, including due to non-compliance with the terms of its development",

- Valery Bogomolov, auditor of the Accounts Chamber, said following the results of the audit.

According to the report, the acceptance of work in 2021 under contracts for the design and construction of M12 "was carried out only for engineering surveys and the preparation of project documentation, the acceptance of construction and installation work was not carried out."

Avtodor was supposed to receive the conclusions of the state expert review by September 30, 2021. But at the time of the audit in October, there were no such conclusions. At the same time, advances were paid to contractors for the preparation of the territory and the purchase of basic materials for 72.3 billion rubles.

Without the positive conclusions of the state expertise, Avtodor has already managed to conclude ten turnkey design and construction contracts worth 572.8 billion rubles, the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation noted.

The state-owned company determined the initial price of work under the contracts "calculated, without technological and price audit." This money has not yet been allocated to Avtodor - these contracts are financed through subsidies from the federal budget.

Back to news | Even the total number of kilometers that need to be laid is incorrectly calculated. The government approved the length of this route at 810.9 km. Meanwhile, the Avtodor documents indicate a length of 794.4 km, and in addition, another 99.3 km is the construction of a bypass for the city of Tolyatti with a bridge across the Volga.

Another problem was the timing of the reservation of land for the highway. Only the sites of the first stage of construction out of eight were reserved for subsequent purchase. The lack of reservation of the remaining sections (along the approved route) led to the fact that some local companies were issued licenses to mine minerals in areas intended for the highway.

As a result, Avtodor seized 3,773 land plots (6,797 hectares), or 80% of the total land required for laying the highway. But the delay will now cost the federal budget dearly. Approximately half a billion rubles, which, apparently, will have to be paid by companies trying to develop business in the territories planned for a motor transport corridor.

“As a result, the state-owned company Rosavtodor was charged with lost profits in the amount of 446 million rubles, which indicates the risks of increasing federal budget spending,” Bogomolov stated.

In addition, the Accounts Chamber pointed out the lack of interchanges on the highway. They are not enough at the intersection with highways of regional and intermunicipal significance. Not enough U-turn ramps are also planned, the joint venture noted.

Finally, the M12 project provides for the creation of 14 roadside service zones by 2024 (including filling stations for electric vehicles). But this part of the project is not being implemented by the state-owned company, the auditors pointed out. The audit also revealed unlawful compensation for the seizure of land and real estate. One of the owners received 4.9 million rubles for the seizure of his land and house. At the same time, the audit showed that the specified land plot was classified as agricultural land, on which the construction of residential buildings is prohibited. That is, there was no compensation. On this fact, the control department sent an appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office.

Representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Avtodor, who were present at the meeting of the Accounts Chamber, agreed with the conclusions of the auditors.

Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news » Back to news Further, the route is planned to be laid (partially along existing roads) to the border with Kazakhstan, and from there it will go to the PRC.

The authorities have been deciding for several years whether it is worth building a highway to Kazan with a subsequent exit to China. Doubts about the expediency of construction were primarily related to the payback and cost of the project. Moreover, the cost estimates are constantly changing. The difference was in the billions and even hundreds of billions of rubles.

Such “constructions of the century” are always largely questions of political rather than economic priorities, and, as a result, the technical and economic feasibility of such projects is problematic, notes Professor of the Higher School of Urban Studies named after A.A. Vysokovsky National Research University Higher School of Economics Sergey Sivaev.

Western experience in the implementation of large-scale construction projects is no better, the expert believes. “If you look at the project of the tunnel under the English Channel or the facilities for the Olympics in London, the same problems. Although in the Western tradition, there is still a maximum coordination of interests of all interested parties, a search for compromises, and not just administrative decisions,” says Sivaev.

He is confident that it is hardly possible to avoid additional costs for megaprojects "distributed in space and time." But it is possible to minimize the risks of unjustified expenses.

“This is a matter of high-quality due diligence — pre-project study, the formation of an objective idea of ​​the investment object. We in Russia, as a rule, save a lot at this stage, so that later we can spend a lot on the construction site itself, ”the expert concludes.

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