Round table "Development of public-private partnership in the Republic of Tatarstan"
The Investment Development Agency of the Republic of Tatarstan hosted a meeting of an interdepartmental working group created to address issues related to attracting investments in public-private partnership projects on the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan.
During the meeting of the working group, representatives of various departments and municipalities of the republic heard reports on which PPP projects were implemented in Tatarstan, as well as on the practice of implementing PPP projects in other constituent entities of the Russian Federation. We discussed the factors affecting the level of PPP development in Tatarstan, considered promising options for the development of PPP in the republic.
The head of the Agency for Investment Development of the Republic of Tatarstan, Taliya Minullina, reminded those present that the Agency is the executive body of the Republic of Tatarstan (department of the Republic of Tatarstan), which ensures the functioning of the system for supporting investment projects, including PPP projects, as well as exercising the powers of the authorized body in the field of PPP, to conduct evaluating the effectiveness of the PPP project and determining the comparative advantage of this project.
“When using the PPP mechanism, it becomes possible to increase the efficiency of mutually beneficial cooperation between the state and business, improve the quality of services provided, and accelerate modernization of infrastructure necessary for diversifying the economy. Solving the problem of ensuring a high standard of living of the population and economic growth is inextricably linked with the development of infrastructure. Currently, the Republic of Tatarstan does not find application of such support measures and investment instruments as the implementation of budget investments by the subject ("capital grant") and subsidizing of various costs, including ensuring the minimum guaranteed income of the private party, when creating a capital-intensive infrastructure facility, attracting a loan financing through the mechanism of "infrastructure mortgage" for the creation of social facilities and a number of others. The application of these support measures could significantly increase the investment attractiveness of projects and attract new extra-budgetary investments.
Only the distribution of risks between the project participants and the availability of budgetary funding from the public partner can ensure the viability of the project. The higher the size of the "budget leverage", the lower the cost of the project, since the amount of more expensive, in comparison with budget funds, debt financing decreases. At the end of 2020, the republic is in 67th place in the ranking of Russian regions for PPP projects, and once it was in second. These indicators also affect the state of the investment climate in the rating of the country's constituent entities, and they can also negatively affect our position, "Taliya Minullina assessed the situation.
Further, the head of the PPP development department of the Agency Elina Zhiganova introduced the colleagues to the level of PPP development in the Republic of Tatarstan and methods of assessing the effectiveness of the region.
“The level of PPP development of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation for 2020 was determined based on the assessment of three factors: assessment of the dynamics of project implementation, where the results of the implementation of these projects for the year are assessed (launch of new projects, commissioning of objects of agreements); assessment of the accumulated experience in project implementation, where the results of the implementation of PPP projects until 2020 are assessed (project launch, commissioning, successful completion); assessment of the situation in the regulatory and institutional environment, here the level of work of government bodies was assessed, including their openness to investors, as well as their willingness to provide consulting and financial support to PPP projects, ”said Elina Zhiganova.
Eduard Stein, First Deputy Head of the Executive Committee of the Pestrechinsky District, spoke about the problems of implementing municipal-private partnership projects. In his report, he explained that it is necessary to apply the MPP mechanism, but the implementation of projects in municipalities should not be limited to quantitative indicators. In his opinion, it is necessary that the objects of communal infrastructure be reconstructed at the expense of investors, and for this it is necessary to competently approach the revision of tariffs. "
Natalia Kropotova, Deputy Head of the City Executive Committee, shared her experience in municipal-private partnership projects implemented in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny. She positively assessed the possibility of creating not only socially significant objects for municipalities with the involvement of private funds, but also the creation of jobs for the population in the implementation of such projects.
Deputy heads of the Agency, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Economy, as well as representatives of the Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of Tatarstan also spoke at the meeting on PPP issues in the republic. They came up with proposals and measures for a qualitative change in the level of development of public-private partnership in the republic.