"Vyatavtodor" was moved. But not far

A significant change has occurred in the road industry of the Kirov region: now budget funds allocated for road repairs are not given in one large piece to be devoured by the state monster - Vyatavtodor, which united all regional road departments. This year, part of the state order may be absorbed by relatively small private road companies.

True, in July, only Vyatavtodor again took part in the competition to identify a private partner for road work: a contract worth 633.8 million rubles in the Kirov region can only be executed by this large organization. The rest simply cannot handle such volumes. So the amount offered by Vyatavtodor - in the absence of competition - turned out to be equal to the initial one.

But at the end of September, applications for another (probably not the last, given the significant increase in funds raised for road repair and construction) similar competition will end. Two quite digestible lots are being put up for competition - in the amounts of 102.4 and 55.5 million rubles. And not only Vyatavtodor can compete for them.

The conditions of the current competition are still “tailored” for a large road organization: the winner is determined by the sum of points, while in practice, a reduction in the contract price and an increase in the warranty period have less impact on the overall result than, for example, the presence of its own (rather than an outsourced) certified laboratory for analysis of the quality of work and materials or experience in performing similar contracts. And whether, under such conditions, competition will appear, leading to a reduction in the cost of road work (which, as is known, in Russia is the highest in the world. Primarily due to corruption) is not yet a fact.

Let us remind you: the mechanism of public-private partnership assumes that the executor of the government contract (the private partner, which, ironically, is the state-owned enterprise Vyatavtodor) carries out road work at his own expense, taking out a loan from the bank. After completion of the work, the government of the Kirov region purchases its results from the budget (next year), paying an additional subsidy equal to the amount of bank interest on the loan taken by the private partner.

The amount of this subsidy is usually equal to 10 cents of the loan amount. And if we take into account that the loan is taken out for about six months, then the public-private partnership is still benefiting both (favored by the authorities) road workers, who receive payment for their work at the maximum rate, and bankers, who earn on interest on relatively expensive loans, the return of which is guaranteed by the government . Only ordinary taxpayers, who pay for this entire imitation of the “free market” out of their own pockets, are losing – in the tens of millions.

But maybe the situation will begin to change for the better by dividing the “travel money” into several lots?