Russia might redirect 26 bln rubles of NWF money from HSR to Trans-Siberian, BAM
MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) - The Russian government is considering allocating an additional 26 billion rubles of National Welfare Fund (NWF) money for the development of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) and Trans-Siberian Railway from the amount that was previously earmarked for the project to build the Moscow-Kazan high-speed rail (HSR) link, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said at a briefing on Thursday.
He said Russian Railways (RZD) has proposed increasing the "share of co-financing from NWF funds by these 26 billion rubles."
"Theoretically, this is possible because there is a source (150 billion rubles previously earmarked for the HSR project has become available) and this does not contradict the rule for investing NWF resources (these funds cannot exceed 40% of the cost, which is 562 billion rubles so the total amount falls within this limit). Therefore, this is possible, but it is the subject of discussion," Ulyukayev said.
The amount of NWF financing for the development of BAM and the Trans-Siberian could therefore increase to 176 billion rubles from 150 billion rubles. However, budget allocations for RZD will essentially decrease by 26 billion rubles.
It was reported earlier that the government had approved the allocation of 150 billion rubles from the NWF for the modernization of BAM and the Trans-Siberian. RZD is expected to get the funding through an issue of preferred shares on a payback basis. The return on the shares is supposed to be 2-3% annually starting in the sixth year of implementation; the figure will be clarified when the documents on increasing RZD's charter capital are prepared.