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A group of economists and analysts, led by the World Bank (WB) chief specialist for Russia, Zeljko Bogetic, prepared a multi-page document, which I read with great curiosity. We are predicted to grow by 4.4% this year - not bad. But the authors urge not to flatter themselves: high world oil prices are not forever, therefore reforms are needed.
The main areas are well known: reducing the public sector, improving the business and investment climate, developing small and medium enterprises … Everything is clear here even without a higher economic education. But this time, the authors of the report decided to supplement their analysis of financial problems (and this, you must agree, the direct responsibility of the employees of any bank) with an overview of the state of the road infrastructure in Russia, identify its main sores and even prescribe recipes for recovery. And this is already interesting, because we always highly appreciated the advice of foreigners and did not like the "prophets in our own country" …
Expensive and rot
To begin with, the authors give a killer figure: the share of government spending on roads in Russia's GDP fell from 2.8% in 2000 to 1.5% in 2009. For comparison: over the past 20 years, China annually spent on road sector about 3.5% of GDP, which allowed to significantly improve the quality, increase the length of the road network and thereby support the economic boom. And we have?
Foreigners signed a sentence on the Russian road system. “Out of 50 thousand km of federal highways, less than a third of the regulatory requirements correspond to regulatory requirements, the state of which can be considered satisfactory … More than 50% of the federal road network does not meet regulatory requirements for flatness and durability of the road surface." And these are the best roads of the country! It is better to keep silent about how regional and municipal routes look …
The destruction of the coating occurs, according to experts, primarily due to the lack of proper care; in addition, new tracks are designed according to old standards. As the calculations of analysts showed, due to chronically underfulfilled road maintenance, freight transportation costs increase three times (taking into account fuel losses, time and car wear), "which directly affects the price of goods and consumer spending." What kind of "investment boom" in such conditions can we talk about?..
And World Bank experts called Russian routes the most expensive. This is due to "lack of competition in the road industry, leakage of funds and corruption." For comparison, the WB report provides data on the cost of maintaining roads in Finland, where climatic conditions are about the same as in Russia. There in 2007, only 9.5 thousand dollars were spent on 1 km of roads, which is three to five times less than Russian indicators.
Finland is not a decree for us
It is clear that there is corruption in the road industry, and the facts of theft, and a system of kickbacks … But why is there such a huge discrepancy in numbers with the same Finland? An attempt to figure out led to interesting results. According to employees of the Moscow representative office of the World Bank, they took data from open sources; the results of the study were not discussed with the road workers themselves (recall, the authors are financiers). Therefore, as the head of the Federal Road Agency Anatoly Chabunin assures, the comparison is incorrect.
Finland's data are averages across the entire road network (including federal, regional, rural roads, as well as ferry crossings), and for the Russian Federation - only along federal highways, the most expensive to maintain. And if you take all the roads, then the average Russian price of road maintenance will fall to 9-10 thousand dollars per 1 km. True, this list will also take into account the road to an unknown village, which washes away every year, and has never been repaired. In general, the road industry in Russia is financed on average by less than 50% of what regulations require …
Pay little?
To improve our road network, World Bank analysts are proposing increased funding. Great idea! Only due to what? Firstly, it is necessary to sharply increase taxes and excise taxes on fuel and lubricants. Secondly, significantly increase the fees for issuing license plates and registration. What is being collected now, according to WB analysts, is extremely small. And thirdly, seriously increase the number of toll roads. But at the same time, WB experts do not say how to drastically increase the incomes of Russians, offering at the expense of the people to solve a program that the state cannot cope with …
But I agree with one of the conclusions of the foreigners, and I am ready to vote for it with both hands. They believe that in Russia it is necessary to radically change the rules for holding road tenders, abandon the system when the winner is the one who offered the lowest price. And make them completely transparent! And also switch to the so-called “life cycle” contracts - when the company undertakes not only to build the road, but also to maintain it for 20–25 years …
