They will catch up and give money – Newspaper Kommersant No. 222 (7423) dated 11/30/2022

In order to support extra-budgetary investments through the program for the modernization of housing and communal services, which should be launched in 2023, the FAS proposes to expand the list of grounds for revising the terms of utility concessions. The new basis should be the fact that the constituent entity of the Russian Federation has a regional program for the modernization of the “communal apartment” with state support – this should remove barriers to access to it for already working investors. Market participants and experts welcome the changes – so far it is difficult to “adapt” the concession for possible support, and such an innovation will become an “curious precedent”.

The FAS proposes to expand the list of reasons for reviewing the terms of concessions in the housing and communal services sector in order to give access to state support under the industry modernization program – it starts in 2023 – to concessionaires already working in the industry. As previously reported, funding for the program, which is aimed at updating dilapidated networks, could amount to 280 billion rubles in 2023-2025. from the budget, it is planned to attract the same amount from extrabudgetary sources (see Kommersant of November 3). It is planned to allocate at least 500 million rubles to each region. to replace dilapidated networks (40% needs to be updated) with the approval of the regional program for the modernization of the “communal” and the attraction of at least 20% of extra-budgetary funds. The main way to attract investment in housing and communal services is through concessions (there are about 2.5 thousand worth more than 715 billion rubles).

To ensure concessionaires’ access to state support, such agreements will need to be amended and the amendments coordinated by the antimonopoly authorities. But for their approval, a closed list of cases is provided – and now, the FAS explains, if the parameters of the concession have already been approved, and the regional program provides for new measures, the service has no reason to agree on changes. The draft government decree prepared by the service proposes to consider the very existence of a regional program for the modernization of housing and communal services with the support of the Territorial Development Fund as a basis, if the concessionaire participates in its implementation.

According to Vladimir Sokolov, head of the PPP practice at Technologies of Trust, the changes are aimed at the effective use of state support – otherwise it is impossible to adapt the concession to the allocation of additional funds and the expansion of construction plans. Andrey Mironov, a senior lawyer at the National PPP Center, agrees with this – he adds that the amendments will be significant only for the recipients of support, and their market share is “relatively small.”

Elena Dovlatova, executive director of the Russian Association for Water Supply and Sanitation, calls the changes important for the market – “when an investor enters into a concession, he does not assume that he can receive state support, and proceeds from his capabilities and the tariff revenue that he expects to receive.” In such cases, she explains, federal money cannot be used, since the use of any additional budgetary funds requires a revision of the target indicators of the agreement – without making changes, you have to prepare a new concession and participate in the tender, which takes about a year and a half, after which it is hardly possible to receive subsidies.

Rosvodokanal Director General Anton Mikhalkov considers the initiative “a tool for more efficient concession management when additional funding appears.” Elena Dovlatova is “somewhat embarrassed” that such an opportunity is allowed only when receiving funds through the Territorial Development Fund. As Andrei Mironov notes, in this regard, the changes are “curious as a precedent” – there is a basis for obtaining FAS approval for specific types of projects, while all the rest are universal rules. “In the future, there may be exceptions for other critical projects,” he suggests.

Evgenia Kryuchkova