Suburban train prices can only be regulated if losses covered - Dvorkovich
GORKI. March 2 (Interfax) - Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has signed two orders on the suburban railway system, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told journalists on Monday.
The first document Medvedev signed concerns "adjusting the norm allowing passenger and luggage transport rates to be regulated on suburban rail transport," Dvorkovich said.
He added that tariff regulation must be carried out in a way that allows subsequent losses to be covered.
Responsibility for covering such losses is assigned to the regions, Dvorkovich noted.
The second resolution "returns to the level of one percent of the infrastructure cost spending of the regions to provide for commuter rail lines," Dvorkovich said.
The government previously decided that the regions must pay 25% of the infrastructure costs and provided 25 billion rubles in budget money for that purpose. Now, given the crisis situation, including among regional budgets, the decision has been made to return to the previous level, which will require an additional 8.8 billion rubles from the federal budget. "This money will be allocated from the anticrisis fund in the near future," Dvorkovich said.
In addition, a decision on the VAT rate is needed, he said.
"We are completing the discussion on whether the rate should be 10% of zero. The sectoral block [in the government] reckons that zero - the Finance Ministry has concerns on that score. Depending on this decision, the remaining amount that must be allocated from the federal budget to support the most troubled regions will be determined," he said.
Dvorkovich estimated that 10-12 regions would require support.
In addition, the government will discuss the optimal arrangement for the transportation plan, that is, how local, regional transportation will be developed and when agreements on subsidies for maintenance and development of roads and highways.
"We have allocated in the budget an additional 69 billion rubles for this purpose. This money will be allocated in the event that the regions conclude an agreement with Russian Railways (RZD) on commuter train transportation. This is an additional financial lever that we will use to get the regions to consent," Dvorkovich said, adding that in return the regions will receive serious financial support.