A gift to yourself

At the ceremony, the governor was shown not only the port, but also new fashionable clothing collections

On Friday, St. Petersburg was solemnly handed over a new sea passenger port in the west of Vasilyevsky Island.
Governor Valentina Matvienko rejoiced that on her 308th birthday the city, “like a real birthday boy, receives a magnificent gift.” She thanked Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and the Marine Facade company and recalled Peter I, who dreamed of “standing firmly at sea” - he, they say, “would be very pleased with us.”
Meanwhile, the new port cannot be called a “gift”. Gifts are given, not sold. And with benefits too. If someone had thought of handing Peter such a “gift”, he would probably have struck the giver with a stick on the back from the bottom of his heart...


The city bought itself a gift for 10 billion
In 2006, when the city authorities adopted a target program for financing the construction of a marine passenger terminal (MPT), it was assumed that it would cost 6.1 billion rubles. At the same time, a strange scheme was chosen for construction, to put it mildly: the Marine Facade company built the MPT at its own expense, and then the city obliged to pay it for all expenses, after which it became the owner of the port. And even then a natural question arose: if the terminal is being built at the expense of the city, why is it not paid directly from the budget? Why is the work not organized according to the city order scheme?
Representatives of the administration (who pushed for just such a scheme) did not offer any arguments to justify it. And critics argued that the reason is simple: such a scheme allows builders to be relieved of any control. The city authorities deprived themselves of the opportunity to check how much the construction of the port actually costs and how effectively the money is spent. And they took upon themselves the obligation to pay the invoice issued to them, without finding out how adequate it was.
Moreover, after the final settlement with Marine Facade, the city was obliged to purchase its shares for more than 900 million rubles, becoming the owner of the company. Where such an amount came from - despite the fact that Marine Facade shares are not listed on any stock exchange - remained a mystery.
The profitability of this scheme for the Marine Façade was beyond doubt. The benefits of this scheme for the city were very significant. Practice shows that deals that are obviously unprofitable for the city are implemented only in two cases: either due to extreme stupidity of officials, or according to the “kickback” principle.
In 2009 - as one would expect with an “uncontrolled” scheme - it turned out that construction had become more expensive. The necessary “investments” (the only real investor was the city budget, that is, the pocket of taxpayers) - increased from 6.1 to 9.4 billion rubles, which the city paid to Marine Facade. And then he bought his shares for the amount indicated above. As a result, city costs amounted to 10.2 billion rubles, paid for the “gift” received.


Was he really needed?
“In 2009, the Morskoy Facade port received almost 250 thousand passengers. In navigation 2010 - already more than 370 thousand. This year we plan to receive 630 thousand passengers,” the governor said. According to her, a river port will be built next to the new seaport so that tourists can transfer to river boats that will go to the city center and suburbs, and a new bus route will be introduced from the port to the Primorskaya metro station. The new port has four terminals (three cruise terminals and a ferry terminal) and seven berths (five cruise terminals, one universal cruise-ferry terminal, and one ferry terminal).
All this is wonderful - only in accordance with the economic justification that was presented by the Marine Façade in 2006 when the target program was approved, in order to recoup the project within 10-12 years, 12 million tourists must arrive in St. Petersburg by sea annually. Twenty times more than now. At the same time, the economic justification was calculated for the cost of the port at 6.1 billion rubles.
This means that the new port will never pay off. And it makes us ask another question: why, in order to accommodate cruise ships and ferries, it was impossible to expand the berths of the existing Marine Station (which the city authorities sentenced to demolition) and deepen the water area there? Perhaps because it did not promise such opportunities for inefficient use of budget funds?
Let us recall that at a hearing, residents of the western part of Vasilievsky were once persuaded to give consent to the construction of a new port on alluvial territories, promising in return the improvement of the Morskaya Embankment (which has been discussed since the 80s).
Then, somehow, 477 hectares of land were quietly added to the port for residential and business quarters - after which the improvement of the embankment was given up. And now those who live on Morskaya Embankment and settled here for the sea views can choose between a future view of the port and a future view of an elite building. However, this will not happen soon - in the coming years, residents will only have a view of a large construction site and a rotting ditch located between the embankment and the reclaimed lands.

Boris VISHNEVSKY
Photo INTREPRES