Russia (bbabo.net), - In the Altai Territory over the past ten years, despite economic instability, the volume of industrial production has grown by almost one and a half times. By 2030, the region plans to increase industrial output by another eighty percent.
There is no one dominant industry in the region, several sectors are developed here - mechanical engineering, food, chemical industry.
“Due to such a diversified structure, the region's economy is less prone to crises than in regions with a single-industry industry,” Vyacheslav Khimochka, Minister of Industry and Energy of the Altai Territory, emphasizes.
Today, manufacturing industries make the most significant contribution to GRP - 17.8 percent, and this is more than agriculture gives. In the next ten years, the region plans to increase this share to 23-25 percent.
- We have many tools to ensure such growth, - said Alexander Klimin, Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Altai Territory. - First of all, these are infrastructure budget loans in the amount of 9.3 billion rubles. They will help create conditions for the implementation of new investment projects in the industry through the construction of roads, gas supply, water supply, and electricity. At the end of 2023, we plan to receive the second tranche in approximately the same amount.
The underdeveloped infrastructure is one of the problems that hinders the development of the industrial sector in the region. Barnaul has long been experiencing an acute shortage of production sites. About a dozen local enterprises need land to expand production, but they simply do not exist. Therefore, they are now trying to create a new industrial zone in the regional capital. It is planned to place it in the airport approach area - two hundred hectares of federal land and sixty hectares of regional ones.
Other industrial centers are also experiencing serious infrastructural difficulties. In Rubtsovsk, for example, there is a production site - a huge territory of the former tractor plant - but there is no gas. And the use of coal does not have the best effect on the cost of production of foundry enterprises located here. In 2025, a gas pipe should come to Rubtsovsk, and then a technopark will appear on the site of the former plant.
- We plan to organize another technopark in Barnaul on the territory of the motor plant, - Vyacheslav Khimochka said. - It is quite realistic to increase production output and open related assembly plants for agricultural and municipal equipment at the enterprise site. It is possible to attract funds from the federal budget to create a technopark. If federal money is also allocated for the reclamation of the territory of Polieks in Biysk, then the science city will also receive a good production site. The issue of creating a technopark is also being worked out in Yarovoe - on the territory of a functioning chemical industry.
Industrial growth will also be stimulated by direct state support. But the problem is that not all enterprises can take advantage of such assistance. Last year, according to the regional Ministry of Industry and Energy, out of the two hundred million rubles provided for in the regional budget, 178 million rubles were paid to compensate for part of the interest rate on investment loans, and in 2020 - only about ninety million. Why is support not needed?
In order to receive subsidies from the regional budget, the salary in the applicant company must be at least the industry average. It is difficult for a small enterprise to keep the same level of salaries as an industrial giant. So they don't ask for support.
The same is true with concessional lending. One of the conditions for obtaining it is the creation of new jobs. But production workers are not ready for this, because they cannot even fill the existing ones due to a shortage of qualified workers. In addition, when installing modern equipment, working hands, as a rule, are released. So, at Altaivagon, due to a lack of professional personnel, the third line of welding robots is now being installed. One such robot replaces eight ordinary specialists.
- We need to modernize the system of state support so that it is in demand, - Vyacheslav Khimochka is sure. - First of all, change the conditions for obtaining it. Instead of the level of wages, it is necessary to take into account the growth rate of wages. And the number of new jobs should be replaced by the percentage of renewal of fixed production assets or reduction of their depreciation after modernization.
They plan to introduce new types of support in the region. In particular, to subsidize part of the cost of engines that they purchase from local enterprises to equipment manufacturers.Thus, the regional authorities want to stimulate the growth of production at the Altai Motor Plant. They are also considering the possibility of creating special economic zones with tax preferences for industry. The SEZ is planned to be located in future technoparks in Barnaul, Rubtsovsk, Biysk and Yarovoe. True, the experience of the Altai single-industry towns of Zarinsk and Novoaltaisk showed that industrialists do not line up for tax discounts. To really stimulate production and new investment projects in the industry, a whole range of conditions is needed.
“Enterprises are limited in investment and financial resources, so it is difficult for them to raise funds to upgrade equipment, modernize fixed assets and introduce new technologies,” Viktor Meshcheryakov, executive director of the Union of Industrialists of the region, comments on the situation. - Previously, banks acted as development institutions, but today they have ceased to play this role. Ninety percent of investments are own funds of enterprises and only about ten percent - credit. As a result, there is a low rate of renewal of fixed assets, the depreciation of which reaches almost 63 percent. If banks do not reconsider their approach to lending to industry, then it is necessary to expand investment support from the state.
Meanwhile
The proposal to expand state supported by deputies of the Altai Legislative Assembly. According to the speaker of the regional parliament, Alexander Romanenko, investments in the development of industry have grown one and a half times over the past four years (from 9.6 to 14.8 billion rubles), but they are clearly insufficient for a stable increase in production volumes.- By the end of 2021, the volume of shipped industrial products in the region will exceed five hundred billion rubles. At the same time, the profit of enterprises is estimated at about thirty billion, and investments - less than fifteen billion rubles. Today, in agriculture, investments in the modernization of fixed assets are almost twice as much as in industry. Such investment activity of agricultural enterprises is the result of many years of state support for the industry. If the industry is also effectively supported, then investments in modernization and development will grow here, too, - Alexander Romanenko emphasized.
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