The winner of the tender for the restoration of the Manege was predicted by Kommersant

restoration
Yesterday, the tender commission of the Moscow government selected the general contractor for the restoration of the Manege, which burned down on March 14. One of the two contenders, OJSC Mining and Tunneling Works #1 (GPR #1), offered the Moscow authorities “more favorable conditions for reducing budget expenses.” Kommersant predicted that it was GPR #1 that was to use about $40 million of budget funds almost a month before the commission’s decision (see Kommersant of August 4).
The open competition to select a general contractor for the restoration of the Manege was submitted by the companies OJSC Mining and Tunneling Works #1 and Glavmosstroy. As Kommersant found out, a month ago the Moscow government instructed State Development Department #1 to carry out a “preliminary period of work” (strengthening the foundation and walls of the building, purchasing equipment and materials for the construction of the underground floor and roof), for which $21 has already been allocated from the Moscow budget this year. 6 million. “The arena needs to be covered with a roof before the onset of autumn rains, without waiting for all the bureaucratic formalities to be settled,” explained the deputy head of the Moscow construction complex, Alexander Levchenko. Kommersant’s sources in the Moscow government said that “it would be absurd to then transfer the order to someone else if this company uses half of the funds allocated for the entire reconstruction,” and the general director of OJSC GPR #1 Anton Dolgov then said that his appointment enterprise as a general contractor - the issue is resolved.
OJSC Mining and Tunneling Works #1 specializes in the construction of underground utilities. The company participated in the construction of the Okhotny Ryad underground shopping complex, the Lefortovo tunnel, and is building the central core of the Moscow City business center. In addition, OJSC GPR #1 built a sewer collector from the Metropol Hotel to Kotelnicheskaya Embankment, reconstructed the sewer system in Kitay-Gorod and under Academician Sakharov Avenue.
Mr. Dolgov learned about the decision of the competition commission yesterday from a Kommersant correspondent. “Such things are not decided at competitions,” said Mr. Dolgov. “We have been working at the Manege for a long time, on Monday restorers began installing the restored Betancourt trusses, work continues as usual.”
However, the tender committee denies that the victory of GPR #1 was a foregone conclusion. “It was a real competition,” assured committee press secretary Ekaterina Trufanova, “we opened the envelopes and heard representatives of both participants in the competition.” According to Ms. Trufanova, the competition commission chose GPR #1 because this company was able to offer more favorable conditions for reducing the start-up costs of the city budget - 5% versus 3% proposed by Glavmosstroy. “If Glavmosstroy had won, GPR #1 would have simply handed over the business to it,” added Ms. Trufanova. Ms. Trufanova could not explain why only two companies took part in the competition for the implementation of such an attractive project, and both were close to the Moscow government. “The announcement of the competition was published in the prescribed manner; anyone who wanted could participate,” she said.
At the end of the competition, the estimate for restoration work proposed by the winner was submitted to the Moscow State Expertise for study. As Ekaterina Trufanova reported, the results of the examination will not appear until mid-November. Both the tender committee and GPR #1 refused to name the cost of the work, however, according to the deputy head of the Moscow construction complex, Alexander Levchenko, the cost of restoring the Manege after the fire will be no less than $40 million.
OLEG Kommersant-KASHIN

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 161 dated 01.09.2004, p. 6

Authors:

Oleg Kashin

$40 million will be buried in the ground