The most expensive stadium for the 2018 World Cup in St. Petersburg on Krestovsky Island will rise in price by 4.3 billion rubles. The object is being built with funds from the city budget. On Monday, an amendment to adjust the budget for this amount was approved by the Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. Until now, the estimate of the stadium, the construction of which should be completed by the end of this year, amounted to 34.9 billion rubles. General contractor – “Inzhtransstroy SPb” (part of the corporation “Transstroy”). In 2014, the company won an additional tender for 2.8 billion rubles. for the improvement of the western part of Krestovsky Island with the inclusion of a primary control zone for the stadium.
The amendment to the budget of the BFK is introduced at the request of the construction committee, Chairman of the BFK Maxim Yakovlev said at the meeting. According to him, the cost of facilities that are being built for the 2018 World Cup will increase by 4.3 billion rubles. by reallocating budgetary allocations from other items of the targeted investment program (AIP). The stadium is a unique facility that has no analogues in the world, so it was impossible to accurately calculate the estimate of its construction in advance, said Sergey Morozov, chairman of the construction committee. According to him, the main reason for the rise in prices was the requirements of the Russian government decree No. 485 (dated May 20, 2016) “On the approval of requirements for sports facilities intended for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.” The document spelled out additional safety requirements, says Morozov. Also, according to him, there was an increase in the cost of equipment due to the weakening of the ruble.
Of 4.3 billion rubles. RUB 1.5 billion planned to be directed to the control and access area, the rest – to the stadium itself. Two government contracts with the general contractor will be adjusted, but additional tenders may be announced for some of the work, says Morozov. A Transstroy spokesman declined to comment on Monday. It is expected that the BFC amendment will be adopted at the meeting of the St. Petersburg parliament on June 1.
Additional funds will be taken from the reserve fund of the city government (579 million rubles), redistributed from the expenses for the acquisition of real estate (1.3 billion rubles) and from the budget of the committee for the development of transport infrastructure (KRTI, 2.5 billion rubles), said Yakovlev. In addition, according to him, another 483 million rubles will be allocated from the reserve fund in 2017 for the construction of World Cup facilities in 2017. But what these funds will be spent on, Yakovlev did not specify.
On the line of the KRTI, the redistribution will affect the objects that are being built for the World Cup, including the interchanges at the intersection of Pulkovskoye Highway and Dunaysky Prospect, Morozov said. It was proposed to cut 320 million rubles from the reconstruction of the Tuchkov Bridge this year, from the junction on Pulkovskoye Highway – 600 million rubles, another 580 million rubles. plan to save money on the construction of the Makarov embankment, says a source in the city administration. Also, according to him, the KRTI proposed to reduce the financing of the section of the Nevsko-Vasileostrovskaya line by 1 billion rubles in 2016. The contractor of the first two objects is CJSC Pilon, the Makarov embankment is being built by CJSC ABZ-Dorstroy and CJSC VAD, the metro section is being built by OJSC Metrostroy. This is not a reduction in funding for facilities, but a redistribution of payments for the following periods, contractors will receive money in 2017, explains the interlocutor of Vedomosti in the administration. All facilities will be built on time, he assures. A CTU spokesman declined to comment.
A decrease in funding this year will affect the timing of the construction of the metro, says a representative of Metrostroy. According to him, “you will probably have to postpone some work for next year, buy equipment a little later than planned.” The general director of ABZ-Dorstroy Leonid Gindin has not heard of a possible reduction in funding for the construction of the Makarov embankment. If this does happen, it will affect the construction timeframe, which is already tight, he says.
The AIP provides funds for the purchase of social facilities in the ownership of St. Petersburg, after the formation of their list, an economy of 1.3 billion rubles was formed, which will be directed to the stadium, the press service of the finance committee reported. The same line of the budget included expenses for the purchase of premises in the VTB Development project “Nevskaya Ratusha” for the relocation of the St. Petersburg administration. The funds provided for “VTB Development” are planned to be directed to the stadium, says a source for “Vedomosti” in the city administration. The representative of “VTB Development” did not comment on this.
Until the end of last year, officials argued that the cost of the arena would remain unchanged. In the spring of this year, Inzhtransstroy-SPb applied to Smolny with a request for additional financing in the amount of 435 million rubles, explaining this by an increase in the cost of imported equipment.
It was not possible to contact the Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko. Representative of Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who oversees preparations for the 2018 World Cup, did not comment on the situation. Now there are no factors that would lead to an increase in the budget for stadiums, the federal official said. He claims that the estimates of other stadiums for the 2018 World Cup, which are being built with federal budget funds, do not change.
In May, the contract with PSO Kazan for the construction of a stadium in Samara was terminated due to the fact that the company demanded an increase in funding. She lacked about 2 billion rubles, said one of the contractors. Stroytransgaz, the general contractor for the construction of stadiums in Volgograd (for 16.3 billion rubles) and Nizhny Novgorod (for 17 billion rubles), did not apply for an increase in the estimate, the company is working within the established framework, said its representative.
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