Translated material
Two defenses
Novaya's columnist Boris Vishnevsky talks about why the dictatorship doesn't know how to deal with crises
medical workers have died in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (*according to the “Memory List”)
Most recently, we talked about the plans of the management company “Marine Facade”, which intends to build a new business center on alluvial territories in the Gulf of Finland. A little later it turned out that Gazprom also has similar plans. The new business center “Gazprom City” with an area of 300 thousand square meters should appear in the Krasnogvardeisky district, near the Okhtinskaya hotel, exactly opposite Smolny.
Two giant business centers are going to be built in St. Petersburg
In the pictures: “Marine façade of St. Petersburg” – the beginning of survey work to reclaim new territories in the Gulf of Finland
Chairman of the Board of Gazprom Alexey Miller has already hastened to declare that their business center will become “a symbol of modern St. Petersburg of the 21st century” and its “architectural dominant with a height of 300 meters.” That is, we are again talking about an analogue of the Parisian La Défense district, which Lev Pukshansky, vice-president of the Marine Façade, promised to build on Vasilyevsky Island a little earlier.
True, Gazprom has somewhat more opportunities to implement this idea, if only because not only private investors, but also the city will finance the construction. It is expected that from 2007 to 2016, $200 million will be allocated annually from the city budget (investors themselves will invest half as much).
The bill “On the target program “Construction of an administrative and business center in the Krasnogvardeisky district of St. Petersburg” was approved by the city government last Tuesday - now it’s up to the deputies. However, practice shows that the current composition of the Legislative Assembly is not inclined to throw its chest at the embrasure, and supports the ambitious programs of Governor Valentina Matvienko without much thought. Even in cases where it would be very worthwhile to think and calculate...
Sibneft should become the anchor tenant of the new center. Discussions about re-registering the company in St. Petersburg have been going on for quite a long time, and today it is already obvious that a fundamental decision in this regard has been made. For the Omsk region, where the oil company was the main (and determining the regional budget) taxpayer, this could turn into a real disaster... however, the leaders of St. Petersburg, undoubtedly, must first of all think about their city. However, speaking about the possible re-registration of Gazprom’s subsidiaries, Valentina Matvienko has repeatedly emphasized that now the St. Petersburg treasury will be seriously replenished, which, in turn, will make it possible to solve many of the problems of the northern capital. And now it turns out that the companies’ payments will be used primarily to solve their own problems. More precisely, for the construction of offices for themselves.
That is, of course, not completely: some crumbs from the “gas-oil” table will reach the townspeople. For example, it is assumed that out of the additional 12 billion rubles that will flow into the city treasury from Sibneft in 2006, 6 billion rubles will be spent on construction. At the same time, each Legislative Assembly deputy (or almost everyone) will be allowed to distribute about 4 million rubles for targeted programs in their district. The total is about 200 million rubles.
For the people's representatives, this is a serious incentive to vote for budget adjustments: after all, grateful citizens will remember the patched roof until the next elections, and that means they can count on their gratitude in return. And in this situation, few parliamentarians will want to ask uncomfortable questions to the governor.
Meanwhile , these questions are not only inconvenient, but also fundamental. The main one is why such a large business center is needed at all? After all, experts say that such a number of offices (and even so expensive ones) are simply not needed in the city. True, administration representatives say that the constructed buildings can not only be rented out, but also used to house various federal structures. But is it worth luring large companies to the city in order to spend the taxes collected from them on more comfortable accommodation for officials? Or have all the other problems in St. Petersburg already been resolved?
The second group of questions is even less convenient. Valentina Matvienko has repeatedly said that a preferential tax system could be established for large taxpayers in St. Petersburg, in which part of the taxes received by the St. Petersburg budget would be returned to companies in the form of subsidies for the implementation of various investment projects. Similar laws in St. Petersburg were adopted back in Yakovlev’s times. But since then, the Tax Code has seriously changed, and the provision of individual tax benefits to certain companies is strictly prohibited. Therefore, a bypass scheme was chosen - Gazprom’s subsidiaries pay taxes to the budget in full, and the city spends these funds as it sees fit. For example, he is the customer for the construction of a business quarter, which includes Gazprom office buildings.
In addition, it is difficult not to pay attention to two “vague” words, which give the governor’s words a touch of slyness.
First, there's the word "share"—in this case, the city agrees to give the companies at least half of the tax revenue. Secondly, there is the word “may”. As already mentioned, deputies are promised “small gifts” for voting correctly on an issue of interest to Gazprom and Sibneft. One can only guess what “gifts” the members of the city government received when they said the magic word “possible” and agreed on a scheme convenient for companies. But the magic word “rollback” just suggests itself. Indeed, what businessman would not agree to thank those who will allow him, in fact, to return half of the taxes he paid? After all, we are talking about very large sums.
In his speech, Governor Alexander Vakhmistrov confidently tells reporters that Gazprom City is vital for St. Petersburg, and giants such as Transneft, Vneshtorgbank and Sovcomflot have long asked the administration to create such a “business territory.” By coincidence, almost the same words were recently spoken by the vice-president of Marine Facade, Lev Pukshansky. Hence, another question that lies on the surface: what is the administration thinking about, which with one hand is investing budget money in the construction of a giant business district, and with the other helping a company that intends to reclaim the territory and build exactly the same business district on it? Why does St. Petersburg need such happiness as two Defenses?
And finally – one more tiny touch. As is known, they intend to give over the territory of the Navigation Instruments Plant to Gazprom City. In the late 80s, new factory buildings were erected on this territory, and in the early 90s, the plant, in the spirit of the times, broke away from the scientific and production association of which it was a member, went into free-floating and quickly collapsed.
At that time, the director of the ZShP was Igor Lukyanov. Now the relatively recently constructed buildings are about to be demolished, and Mr. Lukyanov is busy with a new large-scale project. It is he who is leading the construction of the Western High-Speed Diameter, which, according to the plans of the leaders of the Marine Façade, should connect their Defense with the city...
Victoria RABOTNOVA
Photo INTERPRESS