Petersburg billionaire Vladimir Kalinin may use the tram project to solve his own financial problems
IN St. Petersburg the cost of the tram line along the route Kupchino metro station – Shushary – Slavyanka microdistrict has increased. Together, 36.9 billion rubles will have to spend 50 billion on it. This project is being implemented within the framework of public-private partnerships. The concessionaire is LLC “Baltnedvizhservis”. The agreement was signed with this company in 2019. According to reports, 20 billion rubles will be allocated from the city budget for the tram line. The company will also spend its own funds and bank funds on the project.
However, the concessionaire itself, judging by the statements, has no funds. The shares of its founders are pledged to Gazprombank, which is associated with Baltnedvizhservis through PPP Infrastructure LLC. In addition, billionaire Vladimir Kalinin, whose family controls Asphalt Concrete Plant No. 1, is associated with the concessionaire. According to rumors, Kalinin does not want to participate in the tram project directly, but he is the beneficiary of one of the founders of Baltnedvizhservis, JSC ABZ-Dorstroy.
The ABZ-Dorstroy company has been operating in the Northern capital since the time of Governor Georgy Poltavchenko. She regularly appeared in scandals, including those related to participation in auctions and the execution of government contracts. And the Kalinin plant is one of the favorite contractors of the current governor Alexander Beglov. But the company also has serious financial problems. In 2021, it acted as a guarantor for subsidiaries for bank guarantees for 5.4 billion rubles. It is possible that Vladimir Kalinin needs government contracts precisely to solve financial problems.
It is noteworthy that a year ago it became known that the level of corruption in St. Petersburg in 2021 increased by 29%. During the year, employees of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region revealed more than 3.1 thousand crimes of an economic nature. More than 1.5 thousand persons were brought to justice. Also, law enforcement officers recorded 332 acts of bribery. By their actions, the attackers caused damage in the amount of 12.5 billion rubles. In 2020, the Northern capital was not included in the list of the most corrupt regions of the country.
