Moscow - Simferopol, March 10 (PolitNavigator, Mikhail Stamm) - Ministries and banks of the Russian Federation cannot determine a financing scheme for the construction of power plants in Crimea due to sanctions and the crisis, writes a business publication.
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They talked about the problems "Vedomosti" three people close to participants in meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who oversees Crimea.
Two new thermal power plants (TPPs) in Crimea are needed to ensure the energy security of the peninsula. But ministries and banks have been discussing the financing scheme for several months. Neither the state nor potential creditors have extra money, and it is unclear where to get it, says one of the publication’s interlocutors.
A subsidiary of Rostec, VO Technopromexport, was appointed as the construction contractor, the newspaper recalls. The contractor had to return the investment at the expense of industrial consumers in the European part of Russia and the Urals, who would pay for the capacity of the new stations with a price premium.
However, this business scheme worked before the devaluation of the ruble. Now Crimean stations have risen in price by 34,5–57% to 60–70 billion rubles, say two Vedomosti interlocutors.
Technopromexport wanted to attract loans from state banks, but now they are ready to lend money only at 20%. Technopromexport will have to factor this into the profitability of the project, and therefore into the price of power for the industry of the European part and the Urals. But it's too expensive.
The second problem is that Russian state banks do not want to lend to Crimea due to sanctions. Nobody wants to get involved with Crimea, explains one of the state bankers.
There are three alternatives. The first is to do without a loan, collecting 60 billion rubles in advance from the market during three years of construction. But the power unit producers are overloaded and there are no guarantees that the Crimean stations will be built on time.
The second option is to build in the first year not with a loan, but with subsidies, and then return to the bank lending scheme. But it is unknown whether sanctions will be lifted from Crimea within a year.
The third option is to finance construction from the budget, without bankers. Most likely, this will happen.