Kommersant: “Stand at attention”
Vladimir Putin shows the Volgograd mayor who's the boss.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who arrived in the Volgograd Region yesterday, gauged the bottomless well of a potassium salt mine along with the abysmal depth of the Volgograd municipal authorities' corruption. Kommersant special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov reports that while the prime minister might get giddy looking down from above, the mayor might lose his head.
The Gremyachinskoye potassium salt deposit lies at a depth of 1,200 metres in the very heart of the Volgograd Region. Dmitry Strezhnev, head of EuroChem's VolgaKali plant, showed Putin a seemingly bottomless well leading to the potassium salt layer beneath and said that the mine, which broke ground two years ago, would be completed in three years.
Although he seemed confident, he added, "God willing," which might point to something like 50/50 odds. Even as he invoked the Almighty, Strezhnev's expression looked as if the plant had already produced its first millions of tons of potassium salt and become the world's leader in the sector. He also remarked, in passing, that they had found fresh water while sinking the well and now the arid region has no problems with irrigation.
When asked if he could find a niche on world markets, the plant director replied that the market operates on a "Don't trust anyone" principle. Impressed, I followed Strezhnev's advice and listened to what he said with a considerable grain of salt.
Strezhnev told Vladimir Putin that a city for 30,000 people would be built on the site and showed him a model for future development. Putin, who seemed to be distracted, suddenly asked, pointing at the model:
"What's this, an airfield?"
"No, it is a square in front of a vocational school," Strezhnev replied.
He steered the prime minister to a stand with the following slogan: "A comprehensive project can be implemented only if a government commission has approved the allocation of federal funds to the Volgograd Region."
"Why federal funds?" Putin asked. "Who mentioned anything about that?"
"We are ready to discuss the issue. We need to come to an agreement," Strezhnev replied.
The prime minister looked at him askance, and it looked as if he were as yet unwilling to come to an agreement with the manager. However, Strezhnev's face clearly showed that he would press the issue.
"I just want to know how much you need," Putin said.
"We need 9.5 billion roubles, and that is only for social projects," the director quickly replied. "We'll pay it back within two years, I assure you. We are not like the other applicants."
In other words, he still felt like an applicant, even though he wasn't like the others.
I was sorry that Putin didn't pay due attention to Strezhnev's formula for success: "Don't trust anyone." If he did, he might have responded differently.
"So, it makes three billion a year," the prime minister whispered as if he had banknotes for lips. "Where do you think the money should come from: from the South Russia targeted federal programme, or from the investment programme of the Transport Ministry, or from Russian Railways?"
"No, none of them have enough funding," Volgograd Governor Anatoly Brovko piped in. The "Don't trust anyone" formula was becoming increasingly universal.
Putin supported the plant director only when the latter started complaining about the exorbitant number of permits needed to start the project.
"He is right," Vladimir Putin told Viktor Basargin, nodding at Dmitry Strezhnev.
It became clear why he said so when we arrived in Volgograd.
During a meeting held to discuss reducing administrative barriers in construction, Putin said that the "requirements on territorial planning documents" would soon be "greatly simplified." Village authorities "need not prepare general plans unless major construction projects are being considered."
"It used to cost many rural communities more to develop a general plan than to build a public bath or a shop," the prime minister said. Besides, "coherent territorial planning will allow us to stop dividing land into categories. This is very important, as you know. [We will] simplify procedures for the issuance of construction permits. Currently, many regions repeatedly return the documents to businessmen, requesting additional certificates and permits. Each additional document pushes back the deadline. Now developers will be able to have their documents fully processed, with all necessary additions and revisions, within 60 days."
"It will be prohibited to charge developers fees for any services other than connecting to utility grids, and only at rates stipulated in a contract," Putin stressed.
"What about tenders held here in Volgograd? You know how much land has been sold? A total of just 1.4 hectares over the whole year," he said, addressing Governor Brovko. "What kind of results are these? Another two tenders have been held so far this year. How much land has been sold? The same amount: 1.4 hectares. At this rate, you'll never be able to get any new housing built here."
"We must assume control of the situation in Volgograd," the governor replied, sensing imminent danger. "And regulations must be comprehensible..."
"How are such plots allotted? What is the system? Do they start with parking lots? And how does it all come together later?" the prime minister asked. "The general prosecutor is here and will now take the floor. Many plots of land are allotted through back room deals rather than transparent tenders. People grease each other's palms before the deal and land prices are understated, so they get land at 10% of the standard price, and then the land plots are transferred to real estate developers."
"Tell us about the state of affairs in your region, Mr Grebennikov," Putin said, addressing Volgograd's mayor.
Roman Grebennikov turned out to be quite young and had not yet lost the ability to blush.
"I heard about this meeting just fifteen minutes ago and rushed here from the construction site," he said.
"It was I who invited you, just as I did your adversary, the chairman of the Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) Volgograd regional branch," Putin said. "I would like to hear from him, too."
"The critical problem is that our Volgograd builders do not have the resources needed to complete current full-scale construction," Grebennikov replied.
Roman Sozarukov, head of the Volgograd branch of the Delovaya Russiya organisation, readily joined in the discussion.
"The allotment of land for private housing and other construction is so corrupt in this city that the most lucrative plots always attract schemers," he said. "Municipal land is overtly, unabashedly trafficked. It takes a minimum of two years to formalise the land purchase. But when a transaction involves people close to authorities, this term drops to six to eight months. There are no tenders. Why? Because it is not profitable to sell it at auction: it could end up belonging to anyone. Construction businesses and other entrepreneurs who 'have the cheek,' as our opponents put it, to oppose city hall suffer arson attacks on their cars and other threats. It would be no surprise if my Volgograd-based contracts were severed after my speech here today."
Never before has Vladimir Putin invited this kind of incendiary rivalry to a meeting – notably a mayor, as an executive authority, and his opponent, a businessman who has been unsuccessfully fighting the mayor for years and is likely to be punished for his daring.
However, at this meeting, their positions were reversed as in a fairytale.
Vladimir Putin assured Sozarukov that the prosecutor general would "keep an eye on [his] rental and other contracts, should anyone sever them on whatever grounds."
The mayor was not given the floor again, and he did not ask.
It looks as if he will soon get his due.
