Halt to construction of expressway through Khimki forest to cost 4 bln rubles
MOSCOW. May 6 (Interfax) - The company that has the concession to build and operate the Moscow-St. Petersburg toll road says the decision to halt construction of the expressway through the Khimki forest near Moscow will cause 4 billion rubles in losses, Vedomosti reported on Friday.
As compensation the company, Northwest Concession Company LLC (SZKK), has proposed a five-year extension to its 30-year concession agreement.
Federal road agency Rosavtodor signed a 30-year concession agreement with SZKK on construction of kilometers 15-58 of the Moscow-St. Petersburg toll road in July 2009. The budget for the project totals about 70 billion rubles. The project lenders are Sberbank Russia and Vnesheconombank (VEB) and the Investment Fund will provide about 20 billion rubles. Construction of the 43-kilometer stretch is scheduled for completion in 2013.
But the original plan to build the road through the Khimki forest ran into opposition from local residents. In August 2010, when their protests began attracting more and more demonstrators, President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to the forest clearing work and directed the government to analyze the expressway's route. The analysis did not lead to a modification of the route, but additional measures to protect the forest were incorporated into the road construction plan.
Medvedev's decision will cost SZKK losses of about 4 billion rubles in future years, the company said in a letter to Rosavtodor.
The change in the date for opening up the new road to traffic will cost the company 0.479 billion rubles in 2013, 1.4 billion rubles in 2014 and 1.3 billion rubles in 2015, and will entail 0.797 billion rubles in additional costs, including 0.385 billion rubles on new administrative and business expenses, 0.188 billion rubles in debt servicing costs, etc.
SZKK proposes that the government extend the concession agreement by four years and nine months, that is, until October 2044. Several sources close to Rosavtodor said the extension of the concession agreement was the only option for compensating the losses currently under consideration.