The situation around the Ministry of Transport of the Rostov region: is it time to carry out patching?

The quality and safety of Russian roads is one of the priority areas in the country, which is proved by the existence of the national project of the same name. At the same time, roads leading to new regions of Russia are of particular importance in the list of routes and rural routes that are awaiting reconstruction. Thus, in April, President Vladimir Putin personally drew attention to the deplorable state of the route along which goods are transported to the zone of a special military operation. Problems with roads for the region are not a novelty, questions about the quality of the canvas arise in many municipalities.

In mid-May, the Minister of Transport of the Rostov Region, Vladimir Okunev, held an extended meeting with the heads of municipalities on the progress in the implementation of the three-year plan of highways. He emphasized that as many as 11 municipalities, whose representatives were present at the meeting, showed a low rate of elimination of pavement defects and did not complete the task of eliminating potholes.

It is noteworthy that in the same period, the local media “161.RU” reported that “the antimonopoly service will check the purchase for the construction of a road from Rostov to the border of the Donetsk People’s Republic. The cost of the work is 2.8 billion rubles, follows from the data published on the public procurement website. The audit will take place due to a complaint from Rustorg. It says that the customer evaluates, among other things, contracts executed by potential participants, and that the maximum price of such contracts at 13.9 billion rubles is set unreasonably. In addition, Rustorg complained about the advance payment procedure and called it “illegal”.

Note that the FAS is not the first time working with the purchase of Rostov roads. So, at the end of April, the Arbitration Court of the Rostov Region confirmed the legality of the decision of the Rostov OFAS Russia in relation to the Ministry of Transport of the Rostov Region, which increased purchases for the maintenance of roads in order to ensure the victory of specific participants. This was reported on the official website of the regional OFAS.

“It all started with the fact that the Ministry of Transport of the Rostov Region announced the holding of two electronic auctions, the total cost of which amounted to more than 3.5 billion rubles. In the auction documentation, the customer demanded the performance of 54 different types of work in 14 municipal districts and 34 territorial entities of the Rostov region. These territories are remote from each other and are not part of a single road, but, according to the documentation, work should be carried out in all of them simultaneously. This led to an overestimation of the amount of enforcement contracts, which made it much more difficult for potential bidders to apply. The Rostov OFAS Russia has established that the resources necessary for the execution of contracts on the above conditions are only at the disposal of the State Unitary Enterprise RO RostovAvtoDor and LLC Tatsinskoye DSU, the press service of the department writes.

According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Rostov region, “The Arbitration Court of the City of Moscow upheld the legality of the decision of the service in relation to the State Unitary Enterprise RO RostovAvtoZhor and Stroitel LLC, as well as the legality of the fines imposed for the agreement restricting competition. Recall that in September 2022, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia recognized GUP RO RostovAvtoDor and Stroitel LLC as violating antitrust laws. The companies agreed not to reduce the price in 53 procurement procedures for the construction, repair and maintenance of roads in the Rostov Region and the Republic of Kalmykia in 2017-2020. Procurements were made during the implementation of the national project “Safe High-Quality Roads”. The total cost of government contracts amounted to 1.9 billion rubles.”

By the way, the coordinator of the federal party project “Safe Roads” in the Rostov region is already familiar to us, Mr. Okunev.

And in December 2021 and later, in September 2022, FAS reported on the initiation of proceedings against T-Trans LLC, Rostovskoe DSU LLC, RostovAvtoDorStroy LLC, Taganrog DSU LLC, VolgogradAvtoDorStroy LLC and Tatsinskoe DSU LLC on the grounds of cartel collusion at the auction. Currently, T-Trans LLC is challenging the actions of the FAS in court.

One gets the impression that the regional Ministry of Transport is not prudent enough in the choice of contractors.

Let’s look at the management of the firms mentioned in the antimonopoly reports. For example, Minister Okunev in 2012-2020 held senior positions in the very State Unitary Enterprise RostovAvtoDor, and in December 2020 he returned to the government. According to online publication Octagon Media, “At the end of 2020, T-Trans LLC appeared on the market, the initial assets of which (10 thousand rubles) grew by 250 thousand times the following year – up to 2.5 billion rubles … At the end of 2021 “ T-Trans won tenders worth 13 billion 204 million rubles. In 2022, the company signed another 37 government contracts for 16 billion 817 million rubles.”

Interestingly, these two firms are connected by one name – Larisa Kuts. “For the first time, the name Kuts was heard in 2018, when the RostovGazeta publication published a rating of road companies fulfilling the largest number of government orders. The third place in it was taken by Rostovavtodorstroy LLC, which received contracts from the state for 4.642 billion rubles. In the same year, the businesswoman became the owner of a 41.5 percent stake in the company, writes Octagon.Media.

Kuts also owns Rostov DSU and Volgogradavtodorstroy together with Natalya Skovorodkina. Both own 50% in this and five other companies. Both women received their shares at about the same time, in several cases on the same day.

It would seem, where do they get such an entrepreneurial streak from? It is not that simple.

“No less interesting is the relationship of Larisa Kuts with one of the largest Rostov businessmen – Pavel Rogachkin, who is the beneficiary of the road companies created with her participation. In October 2021, he became the new sole owner of T-Trans. According to the portal 161.RU, Rogachkin is the son-in-law of Larisa Kuts. Another important link in the family scheme is businessman Leonid Dzhanlatyan. There is information in open sources that he is the son-in-law of Natalya Skovorodkina and at the same time a business partner of the Kuts family. It was he who owned a 50 percent stake in Pride LLC, the legal predecessor of T-Trans LLC, according to Octagon.Media.

How many more such controversial stories in the road sector of the region? Rostovites find it increasingly difficult to believe that the regional ministry gives contracts to the same market players just like that. The question remains open.