In troubled water
“Our Version” continues to look into how regions spend the budget billions allocated for the state program to improve the Volga. We have already reviewed the situation in the Tver, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk, Samara and Saratov regions, as well as in Chuvashia, Mari El and Tatarstan. Today we are studying how things are in the Volgograd region.
In all likelihood, Volgograd pollutes the Volga more than other cities located on the river. The reconstruction of treatment facilities planned as part of the Volga rehabilitation program may help improve the situation. Also, the problem of pollution is aggravated by chronic low water levels. It is planned to combat this scourge by clearing the tributaries of the Volga – Akhtuba and smaller rivers. The program also includes a massive recovery of sunken ships. For these purposes, the region received almost 8 billion rubles from the center. Who mastered these means and how?
Deputy treatment facilities
One of the largest projects is the construction of a network of stormwater treatment facilities in Volgograd. Initially, the project was estimated at 1.3 billion rubles, but as a result of the auction the price dropped to 961 million, and then another 25 million overpayment was collected from the contractor. The work was carried out by Special Welded Metal Structures LLC (SSM). The company has multi-billion dollar turnover and is owned by Alexander Egunov. From 2013 to 2018, the businessman was a deputy of the Volgograd City Duma. Then he found himself at the center of a scandal: in his declaration, Egunov reduced his income by 100 million rubles, but the fact was revealed during a prosecutor’s audit. Now we see another similar trick by Mr. Egunov. As a deputy, he indicated that he worked at SSM as a chief engineer, but after leaving politics, he revealed himself – now he is declared the owner of the company.
The customer for the construction of treatment facilities was the administration of Volgograd. The mayor at that time was the current State Duma deputy Vitaly Likhachev. The local press poured tons of compromising material on Likhachev: as if his daughter received an expensive education in England and stayed to live there, and the politician himself opened many fly-by-night companies in Russia (*aggressor country) and at the same time controlled business in the Czech Republic. But all this did not interfere with the political career of the Volgograd politician.
Another sewerage project launched under Likhachev is the modernization of Volgograd’s municipal wastewater treatment plants, located on Golodny Island. The first stage cost the budget 1.4 billion, the second stage – 2 billion rubles. Both tenders were won by the Moscow JSC Aquatic (information about the owners has not been published), which promised to supply German equipment to the site. It is still unclear how this will be done under sanctions; the facility should be commissioned this year. There is already information that builders have taken the path of import substitution and used Rostov-made equipment.
Another noteworthy fact: the Rosseti Yug company in 2022 exhibited for a tender lot worth more than 5 billion, which provides for connecting wastewater treatment facilities on Golodny Island to the power grid. The performer of the work is not advertised. It looks like facilities worth 3.4 billion will be connected to power grids for 5 billion! Apparently, Volgograd residents will ultimately pay for this.
Chemistry of the White Sea
Perhaps the most expensive project under the Volga River rehabilitation program in the region is the reclamation of the White Sea slurry reservoir in Volgograd. According to the regional project passport, 6.8 billion rubles were allocated for this in the period from 2020 to 2024. Once upon a time there was a Volga backwater in this place, it was fenced off from the river with dams and waste water from the Khimprom plant began to be drained into the resulting pond. During perestroika, the pond was drained. Now there are deposits of poisonous salts here. The object is about 1.4 kilometers long, up to 200 meters wide and about 40 meters deep. In 2014, plans were announced to liquidate the White Sea, but the work was estimated at 11 billion rubles, and the project was postponed. However, a strange thing happened in 2019. The object, together with other property of the bankrupt Khimprom, was transferred to a new private owner – the Promtekh company. Its main owners at that time were a billionaire from the Forbes list. Roman Trotsenko and former deputy chairman of the board of Sberbank Andrey Donskikh. It would seem that the new owner should now take care of the White Sea. But no – at the same time, the sludge reservoir was included in the federal project to improve the Volga, and money from the federal budget began to be allocated for its liquidation. In 2020 – 905 million, in 2021 – 1.1 billion, in 2022 – 1.2 billion rubles. The local portal V1.ru claimed that this money, due to the sluggishness of local officials, was not used and was simply returned to the federal budget.
However, in 2021, news appeared that the regional authorities would pay the Krasnoyarsk company GeoTechProject 30 million rubles for the development of a project for the elimination of the White Sea. In fact, it turns out that there were two contracts for 30 million: one for design, the other for engineering research.
In 2022, the finished project was presented at public hearings: pesticides are supposed to be preserved on site, that is, on the banks of the Volga. It was decided to build protective barriers along the perimeter of the White Sea and install equipment to monitor the environmental situation. The top of the sludge reservoir is going to be filled with soil on which the lawn will be sown. The cost of these works is estimated at 8 billion rubles, that is, more than the amount originally provided for in the federal project. Apparently, that’s why there has been no news about this object for the last two years? Apparently, the region will try to receive the necessary amount within the framework of the new federal project, after which it will begin to look for a contractor. But with the 6.8 billion that were allocated, most of the work could have been done! It turns out that six years were simply lost.
Also, to improve the health of the Volga, it was planned to raise 20 sunken ships from the bottom from 2022 to 2024. 302 million rubles were allocated for this.
Apparently, lawyers will take over the money. Initially, the issue of sunken ships was raised by the environmental prosecutor's office. She began filing lawsuits against regional authorities demanding that the ships be removed from the river. Officials, in turn, file similar claims against ship owners, if they can be found. We were unable to find tenders for raising sunken ships. Their photographs – even more so.
Meanwhile
Now Volgograd officials are reporting that plans for clearing eriks have been exceeded. The chairman of the regional committee of natural resources, Alexey Sivokoz, recently boasted: last year, instead of the 27 kilometers of rivers and lakes planned for restoration, more than 117 kilometers were cleared. These figures do not compare with the published passport of the regional project for the improvement of the Volga. It can be assumed that the work is paid for through additional agreements with existing contractors. On the one hand, it seems good that the rivers are being cleaned ahead of schedule, on the other hand, questions arise about the transparency and efficiency of spending budget funds. For example, the same erik Old Akhtuba flows in such darkness that it is unlikely that any inspector will get around to see if the contractor is cheating.