Izvestia: "Working on the railroad: Putin drives spike with hammer"
Citizens of Kyzyl began preparing for a visit by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in advance. A special square was selected as its venue, the entrance of which is guarded by enormous ethnic-style gates. The organisers made a fill with broken stone and put several metres of railway tracks on it. Three holes were left for the prime minister to choose for driving a spike into. Of course, under the project the tracks were to be made of reinforced concrete, but they were wooden – as an exception for the prime minister. A runner carpet led to the huge poster "Kyzyl-Kuragino – the development road", which decorated the exposition at the top.
Powerful automotive equipment which will be used in the railway's construction was displayed in the background. Tents with wood stoves were set up in the centre of the square –dually serving to bring an ethnic flavour to the event and to keep the delegation warm.
Ruslan Baisarov, co-investor of the construction project and general director of the Yenisei Industrial Company (YIC), was rehearsing his speech to the prime minister for the tenth time by his stand in the central marquee. He was very worried.
"How can we go on without Putin?" Baisarov opined, sharing his concern with Izvestia. "This is our joint project and the prime minister must give it a start. The project of the construction of an almost 402 km long railway is just one more example of public-private partnership. It will cost 135 billion roubles. Private investors will contribute the bulk of the money – 85 billion roubles and the Investment Fund will provide the rest (50 billion roubles). We need the road to take out coal concentrate from the new underground coal deposit that is scheduled to operate from 2014 – a total of 25 billion roubles will be invested in its development. Once this project starts operating, it will produce no less than 13 billion roubles for the budget every year and will create about 15,000 jobs.
YIC First Deputy General Director Vsevolod Levin told Izevstia: "Our engineers have substantially streamlined this project. Initially, the railway was supposed to be 470 km but they managed to reduce it to 402 km. This is why we are planning to recoup our costs for the project over the course of the next eight years."
"Tuva will become one of Russia's most developed republics," Baisarov boasted to Putin, as he presented the project. The prime minister had to strike four times with a hammer to drive a symbolic golden spike into a wooden track.
The Tuva authorities hoped to persuade the prime minister to transfer the M54 federal motorway Yenisei to the balance of the regional budget in exchange for the republic's existing one that passes through numerous inhabited localities where roughly 70% of the population lives.
"Now the federal budget is responsible for the federal motorway and its quality is much better. If we do the exchange, we'll have two decent roads," the local officials said without concealing their interest. Moreover, the projects of the Kyzyl thermal power plant-2 and a big sports complex have long been ready, but the republic needs money to carry them out.
"Are all the required papers ready?" Putin asked Sergei Ten, first deputy prime minister of the republic. "If so, submit them to the government."
Alexandra Bayazitova
