Vedomosti: "Disputes around BaselCement-Pikalyovo continue"
It was only a week ago that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin used a hotline in an attempt to pacify residents of the single-industry town of Pikalyovo near St Petersburg. "If the need arises, I will come ... but I don't think there is any need for me to come," Mr Putin said. Meanwhile, the dispute between the Pikalyovo companies erupted again.
On December 8, the EuroCement group wrote off 38.5 million roubles in BaselCement-Pikalyovo's accounts (according to a BaselCement spokesman). For this reason, BaselCement may expect problems to arise at the Pikalyovo plant. The funds written off by EuroCement were reserved for payments to raw material and power suppliers, and the lack of these funds may force the plant to stop operation, a representative of BaselCement-Pikalyovo says. The problem concerns the cancellation of BaselCement-Pikalyovo's old debts: in October, EuroCement won the case against BaselCement twice in court. The courts demanded that BaselCement pay 34 million roubles (38.5 million roubles with payments for the bailiffs' work) in damages for shortfalls in belite sludge deliveries in August 2008. BaselCement filed a cassation appeal in response. However, according to EuroCement, the court ruling on the payment of damages took effect and the enforcement proceedings have begun.
In the first half of the year, the Pikalyovo plants stood idle because of the owners' disputes on the costs of raw material supplies. Contracts were signed only after Mr Putin's intervention. An official from the Leningrad Region's government asserts that Basel's Pikalyovo plant will not suspend work this time: the plant is threatening to do so in order to silence its contract partners. It does not appear that the dispute with EuroCement has been settled: BaselCement-Pikalyovo still owes it 42 million roubles for a shortfall in the delivery of limestone last summer and EuroCement intends to collect this debt, a EuroCement representative says. A colleague from BaselCement-Pikalyovo claimed to know nothing about this debt.
A source from the Pikalyovo plant hopes that there will be no problem with the first cancellation of debts: there is some money on BaselCement-Pikalyovo's accounts and a slight shortage may last for no longer than 3-5 days. BaselCement-Pikalyovo has not announced any changes in the payment schedule and all the payments have been made on time in recent months, says Anatoly Gromyko, deputy director general of PetersburgRegionGaz, a gas supplier. In terms of the write-off of 38.5 million roubles, BaselCement will get this money back in the near future as the down payment for sludge deliveries, a representative from EuroCement promises.
By Anatoly Temkin
