The organization of trading came under the supervision’s attention

The new leadership of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug Department of Roads and companies providing passenger transport services cannot find a compromise in financial relations. The next round of development of the conflict was a meeting of its participants, as a result of which industry representatives announced illegal actions of the district structure to delay payment for services provided. To some extent, the regional antimonopoly service has already supported the carriers, pointing out a number of unlawful demands of officials. However, the claims of entrepreneurs concerned not only the financial block, but also the failure of an investment project in Ugra to update the transport fleet. As it turned out, in order to receive new buses from the State Transport Leasing Company, all tenders for the next 2 years had to take place in June. As the supposed reason for the obstacles that have arisen, observers cite the desire of the district supervisors of the industry to bring their company to the market, which could result in bankruptcy for several dozen enterprises of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and mass layoffs. If this position is confirmed, supervisors and antimonopoly officials will become involved in the situation. In the meantime, the management of the Department of Road Transport is asking businesses to be patient, the carriers are insisting on a meeting with the Governor of Ugra, Natalya Komarova.

Officials of the Department of Road Administration of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug government entered into forced negotiations with participants in the regional passenger road transportation market. The meeting was held via videoconference and revealed new details of the conflict related to officials’ attempts to bring a single service provider to the district.

Government of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug

As it turned out, the issue of payment for services provided, as well as the provision of permits for work on certain routes, has not yet been resolved. At the same time, carriers unanimously claim that the new requirements imposed by the district department contradict the terms of the contracts.

“Today we are forced to do additional work that is not provided for in the contract, but the Department of Road Administration requires it, because we need money to pay for equipment, fuels and lubricants, spare parts and salaries. Unlawful innovations by the department create additional burdens. At the same time, we cannot stop the transportation process while waiting for funds from the district, which also entails unexpected costs. Another problem is the requirement to enter data into the Unified Regional Information System for Transport Management of Ugra, which simply does not work.”– representatives of Russkoye LLC from Surgut voice the problem.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service for the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug is also talking about the illegal actions of the Department of Dorkhoz today. Thus, in response to an appeal from Nizhnevartovsk PATP-1, antimonopoly officials indicated that the absence of information in the regional system cannot indicate a failure to provide services and lead to a refusal to accept work performed. In addition, according to the service, the requirement of the Department of Dorkhoz to attach documentation from automated digital services and control systems, for example, such as GLONASS, to the certificates of completed work does not comply with the terms of the contract.

However, as the meeting participants say, the purpose of involving the FAS in the conflict was not so much to resolve financial disagreements, but to draw the attention of the service to the so-called transport reform and the probable attempts of the Department of Dorkhoz to bring a single supplier to the market.

Let us remind you that the information that the department overseeing the industry intends to create a monopolist appeared a little over a month ago. At the same time, observers pointed to a company from the Moscow region as a possible contender for this role. Domtransavto LLC, which at the beginning of this year unsuccessfully attempted to enter the Yekaterinburg market. By the way, earlier the federal Kommersant, citing its own sources, wrote that Domtransavto may be “connected with the Rand-Trans group of companies, probably controlled by the son of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, Alexander.

It is noteworthy that today this organization appears in a bankruptcy case. According to the ruling of the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region, an application to recognize Domtransavto LLC as insolvent was received in early September from the Federal Tax Service Inspectorate for the city of Domodedovo.

“We focused the attention of all services on ensuring that no one would be able to miss a single supplier. Tender documentation for services in 2024 is currently being prepared. Its details have not been disclosed. We are assured that everything will be within the framework of competition law. However, there are fears that the terms of reference will contain items that we will not be able to quickly implement. For example, installing air conditioners or a specific system on all vehicles. Moreover, there is no time to prepare. For example, our contracts end on December 20, and in order to start the new season, it was necessary to terminate the contract in September. While contractual obligations will be concluded, all equipment will be checked. All this time”says the general director of Nizhnevartovsk “PATP-1” Gennady Kalinin.

The delay in the start of trading, according to industry experts, has already slowed down the process of implementing plans to renew the vehicle fleet. We are talking about the activities of the federal investment project, which included the purchase of transport on lease from JSC State Transport Leasing Company (STLC). All documents for participation must be sent by July 1, 2023.

“Almost every company submitted an application. Governor of Ugra Natalia Komarova signed and the application was approved. The main condition on the part of GTLK was the availability of a two-year contract, so that in 2024 we would already have new transport. The conditions are, one might say, fabulous – 3% per annum. For this purpose, it was planned to hold all tenders in June, but the updated management of the Department of Dorkhoz simply blocked the process. As a result, we were left without new transport and contracts. The investment project in Ugra has failed,” – representatives of the trade union community argue.

prosecutors and the fas intervened in plans to seize the ugra transportation market. depdorkhoz suggests patience

Adopts a fundamentally different point of view Deputy Director of the Ugra Road Management Department Andrey Serednev, who is credited with the initiative to transfer intercity services into the hands of one carrier.

“We don’t put obstacles in anyone’s way. Companies that want to get paid have found a way out of the situation and provide the requested information. As for contracts for next year, we will announce the procedures within a month. In any case, we will move towards new standards. There will be a unified system to which all carriers will be connected. Yes, there are difficulties now. Be patient,” – a district official, formerly Deputy Minister of Transport of the Moscow Region, suggested during the meeting.

Meanwhile, the conflict has already fallen into the zone of interests of the prosecutor’s office of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. So far, the supervision has deviated from public conclusions, explaining this by the fact that a detailed study of the applicants’ documents and arguments is underway. Representatives of a number of companies engaged in passenger transportation in Ugra who were present at the meeting also preferred to remain silent.

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