Russia to allocate 30 bln rubles from NWF for leasing of water transport - deputy industry and trade minister

ST. PETERSBURG/MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - Russia will allocate 30 billion rubles from the National Welfare Fund (NWF) for water transport leasing in 2023, Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Yevtukhov told Interfax.

"In 2024 [financing will be] 45 billion rubles, in 2025 - 56 billion rubles, in 2026 - 3 billion rubles and in 2027 - 2 billion rubles," he said.

In total, the civil shipbuilding program through 2027 is estimated at 231 billion rubles, of which 136 billion rubles could be financed via the National Welfare Fund, while the State Transport Leasing Company (STLC) will raise another 85 billion rubles from the market, Deputy Prime Minister and Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said earlier.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday that the government decree included investment projects for preferential leasing of sea and river vessels in the list of self-supporting projects, which receive funding from the National Welfare Fund on a repayable basis. The investment project envisages construction of 260 water transport vessels at domestic shipyards in 2023-2027. Among them are 119 cargo and 73 passenger ships as well as barges, tugs, floating dock and other vessels. STLC will lease the completed ships to transport companies for up to 25 years.

Under the terms of financing, the rate for passenger and cruise ships will be 2.93% per annum, for dredging and fishing vessels - 4.51%, for cargo and large-capacity vessels - 7.6%, the government said in a statement.

"One of the key objectives is to renew and increase the size of the fleet, boost the volume of cargo and passenger transportation by sea and inland waterway transport, as well as increase the volume of production of aquatic biological resources and the capacity of water transport infrastructure," Manturov was quoted as saying in a ministry statement.