The money of special economic zones will be managed by the joint-stock company

state investments

The Federal Agency for the Management of Special Economic Zones (RosSEZ) will not create within itself a directorate for managing the SEZ. By government decree, which was published on Friday, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Foreign Economic Association 'Vneshstroyimport'" will be transformed into OJSC "Special Economic Zones (SEZ)", which will be the management holding company for all SEZs. The share capital of the SEZ OJSC will be 8 billion rubles. budget investments, which are expected to be invested in the creation of zone infrastructure in 2006.

Initially, it was planned that a special directorate in RosSEZ, a federal agency, would deal with the development of special economic zones and, accordingly, manage budget money; it would also be responsible for the analysis of all design and estimate documentation for infrastructure facilities that will be built in the SEZ. However, as it turned out on Friday, RosSEZ decided that the agency could not cope on its own: as the head of RosSEZ Yuri Zhdanov explained to Kommersant, “there is not enough money and qualified personnel.” As a result, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov signed a decree by which the FSUE Foreign Economic Association 'Vneshstroyimport' was transformed into OJSC Special Economic Zones (SEZ). This enterprise will be entrusted with the functions of a management company, which will be engaged in both the construction of Russian SEZs and the analysis of projects for their development.

FSUE "Vneshstroyimport" was created in 1974 and until recently was subordinate to the Ministry of Economic Development. The main activity is the organization of construction and reconstruction of turnkey facilities, as well as the purchase of equipment for construction projects. The main customers were the government of the Russian Federation, the presidential administration, federal ministries and departments, the Moscow government, banks, commercial organizations and enterprises. The company has completed the construction and reconstruction of Sheremetyevo-2 Airport, the Government House of the Russian Federation, the Grand Kremlin Palace, the Cosmos and Metropol hotels, the State Duma buildings, the Moscow Sberbank, the State Academic Bolshoi Theater, the Moscow International House of Music, and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

OJSC SEZ will be 100% state-owned, and in the six regions where SEZs have been created, “subsidiaries” of the company will be created, directly distributing state investments in special zones. The federal government is ready to give 49% of the shares of its subsidiaries to regional authorities.

Thus, there will be no competition for the management company of RosSEZ. Nevertheless, according to Mr. Zhdanov, “the project was approved by the antimonopoly service.” FSUE Vneshstroyimport, as Mr. Zhdanov explained to Kommersant, was chosen as the management company solely due to the FSUE’s professional experience in the construction market. Let us recall that in 2004 Mr. Zhdanov headed the board of directors of the construction group of companies SU-155.

Moreover, Yuri Zhdanov managed to come to an agreement with the Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin, who agreed to make changes to the 2006 budget and send 8 billion budget rubles as a contribution from the Russian Federation to the authorized capital of the SEZ OJSC. This is exactly the amount included in the federal budget to finance the construction of infrastructure in special zones. Now this money will be managed not by the Federal Treasury, but directly by the SEZ OJSC, which, according to Mr. Zhdanov, will significantly simplify the scheme for financing work on the construction of zone infrastructure in the regions. In addition, RosSEZ will have at its disposal the entire staff of the former FSUE Vneshstroyimport and its design institute.

The package of projects that were implemented by the former federal state unitary enterprise will apparently not be redistributed on the market. Despite the fact that OJSC SEZ, according to the head of RosSEZ, will now deal only with special zones, “it is planned to create a state company with the same name, since it is a good brand, to which all Vneshstroyimport projects will be transferred.” However, it is not yet known whether the current head of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Valery Ainbund will retain his post in the transformed OJSC SEZ, whether he will head the state-owned backup company Vneshstroyimport, or whether he will leave this structure.

ALEXEY J-SHAPOVALOV

RosSEZ refused treasury services