Audit Chamber doubts RusHydro will use 50 bln rubles budget investment this year
MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - The Russian Audit Chamber doubts the RusHydro generating company will use state equity investment of 50 billion rubles this year, the chamber's head, Tatyana Golikova, said at a meeting of the State Duma's budget committee.
The Audit Chamber has been asked in the framework of the 2014-2016 budgeting process to look at how funds the budget allocated as equity funding for RusHydro in 2012 are being put to use, Golikova said.
"We have this information. The 50 billion rubles is on a deposit with Sberbank and accrued interest of 1.6 billion rubles during the first half," she said.
Cost estimates for the four facilities mentioned in a presidential decree have not yet been approved, she said. "There's a very strong likelihood that the funds will not be used in 2013," she said.
RusHydro is carrying out four investment projects in the Far East with 50 billion rubles of investment by the federal budget. The money was transferred to the government by OJSC Rosneftegaz, which receives dividends from the state stakes in Rosneft and Gazprom .
The company has called tenders to find contractor for the first phase of the Yakutskaya GRES-2 state district power plant's construction, for a combined heat and power plant in Sovietskaya Gavan, Khabarovsk territory, and the second phase of the Blagoveschensk CHP plant in the Amur region. The results will be announced in December. Designs for the fourth plant, Sakhalin GRES-2, will be submitted for state appraisal early next year.
Work on all plants should begin in the spring of 2014 and the plants should be in service by the end of 2016.
The Audit Chamber has warned that RusHydro may not be able to meet the deadlines for building new generating capacity in the Far East for which it has already received 50 billion rubles, auditor Valery Bogomolov said at the end of October.
The cost to build four power plants in the Far East totaled 63.5 billion rubles at the moment when the 50 billion rubles was allocated, RusHydro said. RusHydro is to provide the rest of the cost from internal funds and borrowing, as well as with money from regional governments.
RusHydro said the main factors beyond its control that might affect the construction timetable were the lack of a scheme for territorial planning and the time it takes to complete cost and technological audits of construction projects, performed at the request of the government.
RusHydro controls most of Russia's hydropower plants. The group's thermal power plants are operated by subsidiary - RAO Energy System of East in the Far East of Russia. Total electricity generation capacity of the Group is 36.5 GW, and heat capacity - 16,200 GCal/h.