Baysarov goes around

Gazprombank, which traditionally finances large infrastructure projects, and the BTS-Most company of businessman Ruslan Baisarov have submitted a private concession initiative to the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region on the implementation of a project for the construction of the 2nd start-up complex of the R-152 highway “Shopsha – Ivanovo – Nizhny Novgorod” – a section bypassing the cities of Balakhna and Zavolzhye.

The approximate amount of capital expenditures will be 23 billion rubles.

The correspondent of The Moscow Post tried to understand the details of the case.

Unsuccessfully

Concessionaire Ruslana Baisarov has a controversial reputation. To begin with, we must recall his project for the construction of the first railway line from Kyzyl to Kuragino in the Republic of Tyva. By the way, it was supposed to be the first railway in Tuva. Spoiler: the track never appeared. The cost of the project was initially estimated at 72 billion rubles. Subsequently, she repeatedly grew. All this happened under the ex-governor of Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool.

The idea itself arose back in 2003 among senators from the region, now a fugitive banker Sergei Pugachev. At that time, his Yenisei Industrial Company received a license to develop a coal deposit; a branch was originally supposed to lead to it. However, the company did not fulfill its obligations under the work schedule, and the government commission excluded the Kyzyl-Kuragino railroad from the list of objects implemented at the expense of the budget. Then the company was taken over by Baisarov, and in 2011 the solemn launch of the construction of the road took place, which was even attended by Vladimir Putin.

The entire project of the Kyzyl-Kuragino road was built under the Elegestinsky field of Baisarov. By that time, the cost of the road had increased to 240 billion rubles, but things did not go beyond projects and the first stone laid. Meanwhile, projects are design estimates that cost a lot of money.

When things began to slip, Baysarov lobbied for the inclusion of the Elegestinsky deposit and the Kyzyl-Kuragino road itself into the Yenisei Siberia complex investment project. At that moment, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov spoke of his readiness to provide Baisarov with benefits in the form of state guarantees to cover 75% of the project cost. But the businessman was no longer inspired. Maybe because he didn’t need it? And the money from the project settled somewhere.

Baysarov decided that it would do. Photo: investvlg.ru

Now the inhabitants of Tuva may not see the first railway in the Republic for a very, very long time. The fact is that last year the authorities postponed the construction of the road for five years, in theory they can talk about it only in 2026.

BAM and no money

Interestingly, this summer, at the beginning of June, Gazprombank and Bamtonnelstroy-Most decided to take over the modernization of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) and the Trans-Siberian Railway. For these purposes, the chairman of the board of directors of BTS-Most, Ruslana Baysarova, even sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Maybe he decided to show that he could be rehabilitated after breaking up in Tuva?

Earlier, The Moscow Post wrote in detail that Baysarov’s structures have obvious financial problems. So, according to the results of 2021, BTS-Most received about 10 billion rubles in revenue, but only 10 million rubles in profit. At the same time, the value of the assets of the structure is negative – minus 5.6 billion rubles.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru

Is it possible that he is trying to improve his, to put it mildly, not very stable financial position through the public-private partnership in BAM?

It is not yet clear whether the project itself will be implemented, or whether it will turn out, as with the Kyzyl-Kuragino railway, but at the same time, Miller and Baisarov have already announced a new concession? Are there too many projects for people who have already shown failures?

Switchmen stories

Here it is worth recalling the history of the construction of the bridge, which was started for the APEC summit in the capital of Primorsky Krai in order to connect Russky Island with mainland Vladivostok. The general contractor there was the USK-Most company, which is part of SK-Most, the owner of which was a businessman. The project cost was almost $1 billion.

During the construction of the facility in 2017, a scandal erupted. It turned out that when the construction was just approaching completion, metal structures worth a total of 96 million rubles were stolen from the construction site.

The object was raided by operatives and investigators. But the case of the theft of USK-Most metal and its owner Ruslan Baysarov practically did not touch. The security officer of the subcontractor, the Mostovik company, was blamed for everything. Allegedly, he organized the theft.

However, Baysarov has an interesting “track record”, but expensive projects still flow into his hands.

Kingdom of Nikitin

However, back to our roads. The governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region Gleb Nikitin just promised to start construction of the R-152 road “Shopsha – Ivanovo – Nizhny Novgorod” in 2022, for these purposes part of the funding was allocated to the regional budget.

What is interesting about this story is that the Central Concession Company LLC (CCC LLC) was originally planning to build the highway. The company appeared in 2019 with an authorized capital of 30 thousand rubles. A 99% stake in the authorized capital of the CCC is owned by Orion Plus LLC. This construction company was founded by Petr Usov and Alexey Vikharev. However, in 2021, the potential concessionaire withdrew the application for the construction of the Balakhna bypass, and the “sweet” project went to Baisarov and Miller. Rumor has it that someone very insistently asked them to do this, promising good compensation.

Gleb Nikitin in action? Photo: Valery Sharifulin / TASS
It remains only to believe that at least one will be brought to mind and the story with “Kyzyl-Kuragino” will not be repeated. Spent money, beautiful promises, projects and projects, but in the end – nothing.