The government of the Russian Federation considers the issue of transferring the completion of construction of a number of socially important long-term projects in the regions to the federal level. If this decision is taken, the functions of the state customer for such facilities may be transferred to the Yediny Zakazchik firm or subordinate organizations of the Ministry of Construction.
What is Yediny Zakazchik?
Yediny Zakazchik [Integrated Customer] was created on February 1, 2021 “for the effective implementation of federal target programs and national projects.” It is designed to perform the functions of customer and developer of capital construction objects owned by the Russian Federation. These functions were previously performed by six directorates of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Sports, the Ministry of Health and the Federal Tax Service.
The company works with capital construction projects in education, culture, sports and health, which are financed from the federal budget. It was informed that during the first three years the company might receive about 300 billion rubles ($4.88 bln) from the federal budget.
Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin was appointed the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the public law company Yediny Zakazchik. The Minister of Construction Irek Faizullin is Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
The supreme governing body of the state customer is the supervisory board, which approves its development strategy, activity program, and budget. The day-to-day work of the state company is managed by its CEO, Deputy Head of the Moscow City Construction Department Karen Oganesyan.
Medical Facilities
The state company controlled by Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin will finish building of 11 major social facilities in the regions, the total cost of which is not less than 24 billion rubles ($390.7 mln) at the moment of the construction start.
There is a new building of the regional children's hospital in Tver among these objects. The hospital burned down back in 2017 because of a cigarette butt thrown in one of the doctor's offices.
It was decided to build a new one for 420 beds. In 2020, the region even received almost 6 billion rubles ($97.67 mln) from the federal budget for construction, and Rostec was chosen as the contractor. However, the hospital has still not been put into commission.
The multifunctional medical center in Orel, which residents have dubbed ‘The Titanic’ is one of the problematic objects. The construction of it began back in 2007, and since then several contractors have been replaced. Last year The Titanic was shown to the Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who, of course, was not satisfied with it. The next deadline of putting it into the commission is 2024. The list of facilities also includes children's hospitals in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Stavropol, an oncology center in Tomsk, and a social town in Baranovichi.
Galina Karelova, deputy chairwoman of the Federation Council, considers the proposed mechanism of transferring regional long-delayed construction projects to the federal level to be effective and necessary. “It concerns construction of hospitals in regions especially, where it is necessary to solve the problem of improvement of accessibility and quality of medical services,” she said.
Representatives of the construction industry also support the amendments. The head of the Committee of the National Association of Architects and Surveyors on Architecture and Construction Alexei Vorontsov points out the low quality of project documentation because of the pricing policy and, as a consequence, participation in bids and tenders by weak teams of surveyors and designers.
“As a result, there is low quality, a significant increase in cost and increased construction time. If the economy prevents the fulfillment of social obligations, the state must take responsibility and work. Therefore, it is necessary to transfer to a single state customer the work on the completion of construction and commissioning of such facilities,” said Vorontsov.
Sports Facilities
Within two years Yediny Zakazchik plans to complete the construction of 13 sports facilities in different Russian regions, according to the website of the Russian government.
“A total of 157 socially significant objects across the country are underway. Among them there are many sports facilities. By the end of 2024, we plan to complete the construction of 13 of them,” said Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin.
By the end of 2022, it is planned to put into operation the dormitory with total area of more than 10,700 square meters for the students of Tchaikovsky State Academy of Physical Culture and Sports in the Perm Territory.
In the village of Malakhovka near Moscow, a training complex will be built on the territory of the Moscow State Academy of Physical Culture, which will consist of three blocks: an ice arena for figure skating and hockey, two swimming pools with diving towers and various gyms.
Five facilities are to be built in 2023, in particular, an athletics and soccer training and sports building with stands for 850 seats and a gym for the Volgograd State Academy of Physical Culture. In the Stavropol Territory, reconstruction of the swimming pool for the Kislovodsk State Olympic Reserve School will be completed.
One of the facilities to be built in 2024 in Omsk will be an indoor ice rink with artificial ice for the Siberian State University of Physical Culture and Sports, according to the press service of the company.
This information came as a surprise to Omsk residents. The construction of the indoor ice rink on Maslennikov Street began last year. Initially, it was reported that this facility will be completed in 2022, but then the terms were shifted to 2023. Now, however, it appears that it will not be completed until 2024.
“According to the results of the first year,” said Khusnullin, “the construction of 11 objects has been completed. There is the Tsiolkovsky Museum of Cosmonautics in Kaluga, the gymnastics hall of the Ozero Krugloe training center, dormitory for students of Volgograd State Academy of Physical Culture and other facilities among them.”
In general, it is expected that Yediny Zakazchik sooner or later will get all the major construction projects. There are almost 64,000 unfinished objects in Russia. Most of them (from 2,000 to 3,000) are located in Moscow, Yakutia and Bashkiria.