Through thorns into pipes: where the money of the inhabitants of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug is poured

KhMAO authorities intend to provide budgetary support to a company that has violated the terms of the concession. At the same time, the company raised tariffs for the population, and also significantly reduced its investments in a strategic project for the development of one of the largest cities in Yugra.

The correspondent of The Moscow Post in Yugra understood the situation.

Unbreakable Union

The story began in July 2020, when the governor of Yugra, Natalya Komarova, and the beneficiary of the Renova Group, Viktor Vekselberg, signed a concession agreement for 26 billion rubles. It was planned that for these funds, the Yugra subsidiary of the largest federal operator of water supply and sanitation in Russia RKS-Holding LLC Nizhnevartovsk Communal Systems will modernize and reconstruct key facilities of urban water supply and sanitation systems. The term of the agreement was called 29 years.

A strong friendship won’t break? Photo: admhmao.ru

The company began to fulfill the agreement in 2020, but could not do everything that was planned. As a result, the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug proposed to reduce the amount of capital investment requirements from Nizhnevartovsk Utility Systems under a concession agreement by almost 7 billion rubles – from 26 billion to 19 billion rubles.

In addition, it turned out that it was not just about reducing the financial obligations of the concessionaire. A larger amount of work will simply be excluded from the program. An excuse was found for this, as the design and estimate documentation allegedly prepared by the company for a number of planned activities did not pass the State Expertise. It is hard to believe that local officials themselves took such a step and no one helped them from above …

Not only did the authorities of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug reduce the volume of investments in the modernization program agreed earlier, they also expanded the list of backbone organizations that can qualify for state support from the district budget.

This was done just for Nizhnevartovsk Utility Systems. As a result, Natalya Komarova agreed to help the influential oligarch Vekselberg. the local budget was proposed to increase its share in the agreement by another 36 million rubles.

By the way, in 2021 the company was supposed to invest almost 300 million rubles in modernization, but only 219 million rubles were involved.

Now the city administration has filed a lawsuit against the concessionaire. She demands to recover 10 million rubles a penalty for violation of the terms of the concession agreement. However, in comparison with the 7 billion rubles that suddenly disappeared somewhere, this amount seems like a “drop in the ocean.”

Expensive and dirty

The most annoying thing is that since 2020, residents have begun to pay increased tariffs for modernization measures that have not been fully implemented, and some will not be implemented at all.

We are talking about the fact that almost immediately after the signing of the agreement, Nizhnevartovsk Utility Systems significantly raised the cost of tariffs for residents of the city. However, the water quality has only gotten worse.

In 2021, compared to 2020, the region experienced a deterioration in water quality in terms of sanitary-chemical and microbiological indicators in 7 territories and in terms of microbiological indicators.

Last year, only in one municipality of Ugra, tap water met all the indicators. There was no hurry to resolve this situation, despite the fact that local residents repeatedly complained about the quality of the water.

To all the problems was added the fact that the concessionaire dumped feces in the waters of the Ob and concealed environmental information. The case was high-profile and went to court. As a result, it turned out that Nizhnevartovsk Utility Systems LLC was still to blame.

Interestingly, the company did not fulfill its obligations, but instead “recouped” on the debtors. The company came up with the “pyramid of shame” Concrete triangles were placed near people’s houses. The weight of the structure is two tons, so residents could not remove it themselves without special equipment. The inscriptions were applied to the pyramid: “The debtor lives here”, “You must”, “Here they do not pay for water.”

At that time, it was noted that more than 500 residents of private households could see a pyramid near their home while ignoring debt. This begs the question, how are these structures made? Did the service have nowhere else to send money?

Photo: vk.com/vartovsk86region

Ugra for survival

The fact that billionaire Viktor Vekselberg earns from constantly rising tariffs, but instead of modernizing utility systems, the funds can go to his personal enrichment is not the first to be spoken of. He turned murky schemes in other regions as well: The Moscow Post wrote about this in detail.

It is surprising that while under his strict supervision the public utilities in different cities of Russia are “falling apart”, the billionaire continues his activities. In addition, now he has enlisted the support of Natalia Komarova, who clearly put the oligarch’s requests above the interests of ordinary citizens.

As for Komarova, they have long been talking about her – “it’s time for a citizen to retire.” A lot of problems have accumulated in her region: these are inter-elite conflicts, ongoing corruption scandals and growing discontent among residents, and an environmental crisis.

But he does not plan to leave the chair of the governor Komarov. Judging by how confident she is behaving, it can be assumed that the head of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Natalya Komarova, will sit in her place until 2025.

There was a version that the governor was saved from “departure” by her possible new lobbyists: oilman Vladimir Bogdanov and scientist Mikhail Kovalchuk.

In addition, Komarova was called the creature of the influential oligarchs Leonid Mikhelson and Gennady Timchenko. Now Vekselberg can also be included in the treasury of “necessary people”.

It remains only to observe how, under the leadership of Natalia Komarova and her faithful retinue, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug becomes a depressed region