30.11 RusHydro to start spending 50 billion rubles on Far Eastern projects next year

MOSCOW, November 27 – Prime Business News Agency. In the first quarter of 2014, RusHydro plans to start spending 50 billion rubles in state budget allocations on building facilities in the Russian Far East, corporate board member Sergei Tolstoguzov told a news conference.

“We are signing contracts with contractors and equipment suppliers. And, in effect, large-scale advance payments will be made for three facilities, except Sakhalin, in the first quarter of 2014,” Tolstoguzov said.

Last year, the Russian Government increased RusHydro capitalization by 50 billion roubles for the company to build four new heat-generation facilities, including the first stage of the Sakhalin state regional power station No 2, a thermal power station in Sovetskaya Gavan, the second stage of the Blagoveshchensk thermal power station, and the first stage of the Yakutian state district power station No 2.

In October 2013, the Russian Audit Chamber said these budget allocations had not been spent, which could disrupt construction deadlines for Eastern Siberian and Far Eastern fuel and energy facilities and have a negative effect on their costs. An official RusHydro spokesperson told Prime Business News Agency in October that engineering companies of Sberbank, where those 50 billion rubles are deposited, were conducting independent technological, production and pricing audits of the projects.

Only after such audits are completed, will it become possible to start financing the projects and to purchase the required equipment and services of general contractor companies, by agreement with Sberbank and the Ministry of Energy, the source noted.