MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. The first trains on the Belkomur railway (White Sea - Komi - Ural) can run as early as 2023. The prospects for the implementation of the project were discussed at an extended meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy within the framework of the Days of the Arkhangelsk Region in the upper house of parliament.

As Viktor Novozhilov, Chairman of the Assembly of Deputies of the Arkhangelsk Region, told TASS after the meeting, it is possible to meet the project launch deadlines provided that a concession agreement for the construction of the railway line is signed by the beginning of 2018. TASS previously reported that the investor is the Chinese company Poly International Holding Co. (part of the Poly Group holding) - confirmed its readiness to invest up to $5.5 billion in Belkomur. It is expected that the concession proposal for Belkomur will be prepared and submitted to the Russian government this year.

“To implement the project, hundreds of kilometers of railways will have to be reconstructed and built from scratch. The main economic clusters will receive an impetus for development: chemical, forestry, transport, shipbuilding, construction, fuel and energy complex, mining, processing of marine biological resources. More than 45 thousand new workers will be created provided that a concession agreement is signed with the investor by the beginning of next year, the first trains could run along the route as early as 2023,” Novozhilov commented on the prospects for the project.

According to him, the senators supported the construction of Belkomur: a package of recommendations has been developed that will be included in the draft resolution of the Federation Council.

"Belkomur" in the Arkhangelsk region

As Alexey Alsufiev, the first deputy governor of the Arkhangelsk region and the chairman of the regional government, explained to TASS, a strategic audit of the Belkomur project was carried out in 2016, which confirmed its high macroeconomic efficiency.

“This efficiency especially increases if we consider the Belkomur project in dynamic connection with the entire complex of large infrastructure projects in the macro-region, which have already begun to be implemented or are planned for implementation in the near future. I mean the Murmansk transport hub, the Northern Latitudinal Railway, the deep-water region seaport of Arkhangelsk," Alsufiev said.

According to existing calculations, more than 40 enterprises in the Belkomur passage zone will have the opportunity to develop, and more than 100 enterprises will increase their efficiency. It is expected that this will stop the outflow of population from the northern territories and ensure the consolidation of labor resources necessary for large-scale development of the Arctic.

As for the Arkhangelsk region itself, it is estimated that the region will be able to develop an additional 4 million cubic meters of forest resources per year. "Belkomur" will provide an opportunity to increase the production of bauxite ore in the Severonezh bauxite-bearing region, where 18% of Russian bauxite reserves are concentrated. Among the mining projects, Belkomur will also contribute to the development of the Pavlovsk lead-zinc deposit on Novaya Zemlya, the extraction and use of limestone for the pulp and paper industry and, in general, an increase in the production of building materials such as gypsum, building stone, gravel, and sand. It is also expected that the efficiency of diamond mining at the deposits named after. M. Lomonosov and them. V. Grib.

What will the Perm region receive?

The Perm Territory has a minimal share in this project - about 9.5%, but the project will also benefit this region. According to the authorities’ calculations, the commissioning of the route will make it possible to resolve the issues of exporting potash fertilizers in the amount of up to 10 million tons per year from the Solikamsk basin. This is 100% Russian reserves.

“But at the same time, it is important not to increase the burden on producers due to tariffs for cargo transportation,” Acting Governor of the Perm Territory Maxim Reshetnikov told reporters.

For the Perm Territory, additional opportunities will appear for the development of forest resources covering 70% of the region’s territory. Like its neighbors, this will also lead to an increase in the production of building materials: limestone, gypsum, anhydrite, expanded clay, sand and gravel mixture.

Komi: development of the Subpolar Urals

As for the Komi Republic, the commissioning of Belkomur will make it possible to develop new forest resources. In the southern part of the region alone, economically available logging will increase by 5 million cubic meters per year.

The road will also help the region in the development of large deposits of all-Russian importance: bauxite of the Timan Ridge (30% of all-Russian reserves), titanium ores of the Yaregskoye oil-titanium deposit (50% of reserves), quartz-vein raw materials (80% of reserves), Usinsk oil, Vozeya oil and gas condensate and Vuktyl gas condensate deposits, iron-manganese and chromite ores of the Subpolar Urals.

“Potentially, the region and resource projects working in the East, in Asia, can be tied to Belkomur. This is the development of oil production, the construction of gas complex enterprises, mining enterprises, be it titanium or coal mining. I’m not even talking about forests, because that “Belkomur” only in our regions (on the border of Komi with the Arkhangelsk region and with the Perm Territory) opens almost 5 million cubic meters of cutting area, transfers this forest to the category of accessible, economically profitable,” Deputy Chairman of the Komi Government - Minister of Industry and Natural Resources - told TASS , transport and energy Nikolay Gerasimov.

According to him, the republic was active from the first step in achieving the implementation of this project.

“We have always taken the position that this project is extremely interesting, increases the degree of development of the republic’s infrastructure and takes it to a new level. The project not only connects the regions, north and south, Europe and Asia, but also creates a series of prospects that have been previously inaccessible to the regions "Komi's position is simple and standard: we are interested in ensuring that this project, despite the length of its implementation, happens and begins to work for the development of our region," Gerasimov said.

Project "Belkomur"

The project for the construction of a new railway "Belkomur" (White Sea - Komi - Ural) involves reducing the distance of cargo delivery from the Urals and from Siberia to the sea ports of Arkhangelsk to 850 km. The new highway is of strategic importance for Russia, since it will connect the Urals and the Komi Republic directly with the ice-free ports of Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and Northern Europe. In the future, the new road will provide the shortest route to Northern Europe and the regions of Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, creating good conditions for the transit of goods through Russia, and will allow us to consider the organization of domestic and international intermodal transport (delivery of goods by two or more modes of transport).

Let's start a little from far. 118 years ago, in May 1895, the newly crowned Tsar Nicholas II signed a decree on the construction of a railway from Perm to Vyatka and further to the Kotlas pier on the Northern Dvina. This news came to Perm unexpectedly. Unlike the Ural Mining Railway, which was preceded by ten years of heated debate about how and where it should run, no one at the local level discussed the idea of ​​a branch to Kotlas. But the new railway literally crashed into the measured life of Perm (the entire northern slope of Sludka Hill was razed) and did the hitherto unthinkable: it cut off Perm from the Kama.

The reason for the urgent construction of the Perm-Kotlas railway is the beginning of the construction of another road, the Trans-Siberian Railway. In the year when the imperial decree on the construction of the route to Kotlas was issued, the Siberian railway had already reached Omsk. In Siberia, wheat harvests grew from year to year, but all the grain was “locked” in the region and therefore cost 40-45 kopecks per pood, while in the center of Russia the price of wheat was 60-70 kopecks.

The dollar exchange rate a hundred years ago was about two gold rubles. It is believed that the dollar of the late 19th century has the purchasing power of 27 dollars in 2009. That is, Russian wheat then cost something like 400 current dollars per ton. This is the current price of oil.

After the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began, Siberian bread could be easily delivered to the center of the country and to the ports of the empire. In the all-Russian harvest it was only a few percent. But natural monopolists and oligarchs Russia XIX centuries - landowners-exporters of bread - became seriously worried. Bread was the main type of Russian export. American farmers crowded the European market, mercilessly driving down prices. Their harvest ripened faster, Russian grain traders arrived at the moment the market was saturated. They barely scraped together a profit, and here are these Siberians.

The treasury urgently allocated 40 million gold rubles (equivalent to 500 million modern dollars) for a route designed to take Siberian grain away from the central regions, further to the north, to the Arkhangelsk port. Prime Minister Witte himself called the construction of the Perm-Kotlas road “the first priority section of the Trans-Siberian Railway.”

One mile of the Perm-Kotlas railway turned out to cost 50 thousand rubles (approximately 700 thousand modern dollars). 100 years ago this was the price of a very decent two-story stone mansion in the city center. In Perm at that time there were only two to three hundred stone houses. There were 812 versts on the railway - the cost of the housing stock of several provincial towns.

In order for Siberian merchants to transport grain “where it should go” in 1896, when there were no rails on the Perm-Vyatka railway, the government introduced the “Chelyabinsk grain break”. Tariffs on the railway were formed as follows: the further the cargo was sent, the lower the rate per kilometer. Now, unpleasant news awaited Siberian grain traders in Chelyabinsk: the tariff for bread to central Russia was recalculated, as if it was being transported not a thousand miles away, but from Chelyabinsk itself. This already deprived Siberian wheat of price advantages.

While Siberian men were scratching their beards, wondering what to do with bread, the government offered a way out. Simultaneously with the bridge across the Kama, in the immediate vicinity of the new railway track, the construction of a huge industrial facility at that time began in Perm - the alcohol purification plant of the Ministry of Finance. Construction cost 500 thousand rubles. (the entire city budget then barely reached 200 thousand rubles). It is not difficult to guess that the main raw material for the Perm distillery was Siberian wheat. Kazenka, vodka produced at the wineries of the Ministry of Finance, provided up to a third of all state budget revenues.

10 million poods of Siberian grain could be turned into 250 million bottles of “official” bottles at the price of a pood of Siberian grain each. This is a colossal amount of 75-100 million rubles. net income that pays for the construction of more than one railway.

The main obstacle on the way to Vyatka and Kotlas was the Kama. As a result, a second verst-length bridge appeared in Russia (the first was built in 1880 across the Volga).

Among the many wonders Russian Empire, captured in color by photographer Konstantin Prokudin-Gorsky, the image of the Kama Bridge (photo from 1909) is one of the most cited on the Internet.

Like the Aleksandrovsky Bridge across the Volga near Saratov, the Perm Bridge was erected by domestic engineers, and the metal structures were made at local factories (in this case, Votkinsk). It’s hard to believe now, but foreigners then showed their complete inability to build in Russia. Their bridges turned out to be beautiful, but they usually stood until the first ice drift. The “Dutch” invited at that time simply could not even imagine that such natural disasters could happen.

The supports of the Perm bridge had powerful stone ice cutters. Already in the 1950s, their strong foundation would be used to build supports for the second line of rails.

The remaining bridges to Kotlas were temporarily built wooden - there was plenty of forest all around. The temporary bridges stood for almost a decade.

By 1899, the Perm-Kotlas railway was completed. The Trans-Siberian Railway reached Lake Baikal. In Siberia that year there were 60 million pounds of grain “for export.” But 14 million poods went beyond the Urals. And only 3 million poods of them were delivered to Arkhangelsk and sold abroad.

“The enterprise is unfinished. Export turned out to be unprofitable and inconvenient. The main obstacle is the shallow waters of the Dvina and the lack of warehouses (of any kind) in Arkhangelsk and the presence of only pitiful ones in Kotlas,” the provincial press wrote 10 years after this road was put into operation.

By that time, the imaginary “Siberian grain threat” had completely disappeared. The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was generally completed; it was necessary to supply a huge region with food. Siberian grain flows rushed to the east. Mere trifles were exported through Arkhangelsk. And although the “Chelyabinsk tariff break” was canceled only in 1910, after the complete equalization of Siberian and Russian grain prices, the road to Kotlas ceased to occupy government heads. The several tens of millions spent on it also turned out to be nothing compared to the billion that the Trans-Siberian Railway cost.

The construction of the highway at an accelerated pace became a dead end in every sense. Built according to temporary standards, it needed complete reconstruction. In Perm, where the railway track ran along the very bank of the Kama, not a single switch was made to transfer cargo to the river and back.

However, getting from Moscow and St. Petersburg via the Trans-Siberian Railway through Samara and Chelyabinsk turned out to be too long. Through Vyatka it would be possible to travel 2 thousand versts less. But this is another “spiral of history.”

In the 20th century, the formation of the railway network in Russia was based on a latitudinal basis (west-east connection). For this reason, there are currently not enough meridional railways in the country, which has led to a shortage of convenient communications between the raw materials and industrial regions of the country and the formation of dead-end industrial hubs. The lack of communications has been felt in the north for a long time.

IN Soviet time Work on the construction of railways in the areas of the projected Belkomur route has been carried out since the 1930s. By the early 1950s. sections of Arkhangelsk-Karpogory and Vendinga-Mikun with a length of about 440 km were built. Since the work was carried out mainly by prisoners, with an amnesty in the mid-1950s. they were stopped. Although, according to other sources, construction only began in the early 60s, by the early 70s they had built and put into operation Vending - Mikun in 1975, and Arkhangelsk - Karpogory even later

The next step in the direction of Belkomur was taken already in the post-Soviet era, when in 1996. a special company was created - the operator of the project - OJSC Interregional Company Belkomur (OJSC MK Belkomur). Its main shareholders are the Komi Republic (almost 57%), the Arkhangelsk Region (21.6%) and the Perm Territory (11.1%), as well as a number of enterprises from these regions. With the support of the Ministry of Railways of the Russian Federation and through funding from the initiating regions in 1996. Work began on the construction of an extension of the Mikun-Vendinga line in the direction of Arkhangelsk. But during the crisis of 1998. work was stopped. Today, unfinished construction projects are on the balance sheet of OJSC MK Belkomur.

The project received a new round of development in the mid-2000s. Then, on the initiative of interested regions, a Comprehensive Program for Infrastructure and Industrial Development of Komi, the Perm Territory and the Arkhangelsk Region was prepared, the infrastructural basis of which is railway line Perm (Solikamsk)–Syktyvkar–Arkhangelsk. The construction of new sections of the highway was supposed to be fully financed from the Investment Fund of the Russian Federation, and the existing ones were to be reconstructed by JSC Russian Railways. Having passed the necessary approvals in the interested ministries and departments, having received the approval of the Investment Commission, in 2009. Against the backdrop of the global financial crisis, the project was suspended due to budget restrictions.

But the next step was taken already in 2010. — in accordance with the instructions of Vladimir Putin, in order to reduce the volume of direct financial participation of the state, the development of a model for project implementation on the principles of public-private partnership (PPP) began. Now the project is supposed to be implemented in the form of a concession. This should provide the opportunity to attract extra-budgetary investments, as well as reduce the level of financial participation of the state.

Last year, the parameters of the project itself were updated. In October 2012 At a meeting of the working group of JSC Russian Railways on the Belkomur project, the main technical parameters, the forecast of the cargo base were finally agreed upon, and the principles of interaction between the parties in the process of implementing the project were determined. Then it was reported that railway workers presented their assessments of the prospects for the development of cargo flows, according to which “the load on the railway infrastructure in the direction of the northern ports of Russia will more than double in the coming years.” At the same time, as the press service of the Komi Republic reported, in the absence of Belkomur, it will be necessary to allocate 280 billion rubles to strengthen the existing railway lines of JSC Russian Railways. If Belkomur is built, then part of the load will be removed, and the volume of required investments will decrease to 160 billion rubles.

Clickable

The construction of the current Belkomur, the same 800 km, passing through very similar terrain, is estimated at 130 billion rubles. (almost $5 billion) - an order of magnitude higher than 100 years ago! Accordingly, a kilometer of road will cost $5 million - the price of the same mansion.

According to the updated parameters, the project requires about 175 billion rubles. (in 2012 prices), including 140 billion for new construction and another 35 billion rubles. – for the reconstruction of existing branches. The required level of state support in the form of subsidies to compensate for construction costs is provided at the level of 30% of the construction cost (that is, about 50 billion rubles). We also need government guarantees from the Russian Federation to attract debt financing (according to some sources, in the amount of about half the cost of the entire project).

The implementation of the project also involves the acquisition of traction and shunting locomotives.

The main characteristic of the project - the throughput of the highway - is calculated at the level of 35 million tons per year. A source familiar with the preparation of the project claims that it will be difficult to ensure full loading of the highway. “Such a volume, of course, will not travel, but, of course, Belkomur will unload the existing sections of the Russian Railways network,” he argues and clarifies that not a single shipper will give guarantees that they will pass their cargo through Belkomur. The bulk of the cargo flow will presumably be new cargo. In many ways, the highway is designed, among other things, to generate an additional cargo base in the adjacent territories. Based on the planned structure of cargo traffic, more than half will be coal. It is also planned to transport chemical and mineral fertilizers, petroleum products, timber cargo, etc. along the highway, as well as export cargo traveling from Northern European countries to Russia and in transit to the countries of Southeast Asia

According to experts, an important condition implementation of the project is to involve in the project inactive dead-end sections owned by JSC Russian Railways. This will make it possible to form a single property complex along the entire length of the highway.

The mechanism for changing tariffs must be separately agreed upon and approved. The tariff for the owner of the highway infrastructure, as a subject of a natural monopoly, in theory, will be set by the Federal Tariff Service (FTS) of the Russian Federation. The existing concession and tariff legislation makes it possible to determine the procedure for establishing and changing the tariff, taking into account the financial model of the project. The tariff, according to experts, should ensure a return on investment over a reasonable planning horizon (concession period) with agreed financial indicators of the project and parameters of state participation, as well as maintain the competitiveness of the highway. The cost of transportation along the Belkomur highway should not exceed the freight charge for the bypass route. The FTS reported that the department had not received any instructions to agree on the conditions and procedure for setting tariffs at Belkomur.

Vague prospects

Now the project is under consideration by the interested ministries and departments, the terms of participation of Russian Railways OJSC and development institutions (in particular, Vnesheconombank) are being worked out and agreed upon. However, there are still no specific defining decisions.

The authorities of the founding regions of OJSC MK Belkomur are most interested in the project, quite naturally. Representatives of the coal and energy industries and transport companies may also have some interest. But it is difficult to talk about the economic efficiency of a project without knowing the details of calculating its parameters.

A. Polikarpov believes that reducing the transportation distance by 800 km “in theory,” based on the average network tariffs of Russian Railways, should save cargo owners approximately 300-350 rubles per ton. However, operating costs in terms of volumes of cargo transported will obviously be higher than those of railway workers. The payback period for private diesel locomotives at Belkomur will certainly be several times shorter than provided for in the average network tariffs of Russian Railways. As a result, the “savings” can amount to about 50-200 rubles/t, depending on the class of cargo transported. But, according to the expert, the results of the preliminary economic assessment can be significantly affected by the financing scheme and the share of private capital. So, for example, when purchasing diesel locomotives under leasing schemes and reducing the payback period from 18-20 years (in the existing average network tariff) to 10-12 years (from private companies), the income (tariff) of the locomotive owner should be increased by 2.5-3 times.

Little is known about the interest of private investors in the project (perhaps because the interest itself is small). Recently it was reported that the China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation (CCESS) wants to invest in the equity capital of OJSC MK Belkomur. In addition to their own participation in the project, the leadership of CCESS, as reported by the media with reference to Deputy Head of Komi Alexander Burov, is ready to assist in attracting long-term financial resources State Development Bank of China with a low interest rate. Could it be that the Chinese partners were attracted by one of the project’s objectives - the idea of ​​creating a new international transit route in the direction “Northern regions of Russia - East Asia (China)”?

There are rumors that the Chinese are ready to invest in this construction and even build the road themselves.

This is formulated too vaguely on Komiinform.

“During the meetings, issues of participation of financial structures and largest companies of the People's Republic of China in the construction of the Belkomur railway. The result of the joint work was the signing of a memorandum on cooperation between OJSC MK Belkomur and a large-scale state enterprise, which has the highest qualification in China in the field of contract placement - China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCESS). In particular, in the near future it is planned to create a bilateral working group and begin work on developing a mechanism for joint implementation of the project with the support of the Governments of Russia and China"

Despite everything, the long-term construction of Belkomur remains so, and there are no compelling reasons to change its status. Due to some insurmountable reasons, the project does not want to move into the implementation stage. However, the discussion is ongoing and it doesn’t subside anymore long time, there is still hope that we will wait for implementation.

Creating a straightening line is extremely important. Unlike the pre-perestroika period, when tariffs for railway transportation were extremely low and the circularity of routes was hardly noticeable for shippers, in the conditions market economy modern tariffs have a very significant impact on the rise in price of transported products, often making the production of the latter unprofitable. It is also obvious that the new highway, by reducing the cost of transportation, will significantly contribute to the development of foreign economic relations in the region.

"Belkomur" was postponed until the next decade

The project is already estimated at 251 billion rubles.

At the end of last year, several media outlets in Komi wrote that construction of Belkomur would begin in 2018. However, this is not true.

At a meeting on major projects for the development of transport infrastructure in the north of Russia, which took place on April 21, 2017 in Murmansk, the Chairman of the Russian Government Dmitry Medvedev said that Belkomur currently provides for the reconstruction of the existing railway infrastructure in three constituent entities of Russia - the Perm Territory, the Komi Republic and the Arkhangelsk Region. “The project is planned to be implemented using the mechanism of a private concession initiative, and the total investment volume is estimated at 251 billion rubles. But we see the implementation of this project over the next decade,” he noted.

Prior to this, the topic of Belkomur was raised at the Arctic Forum, which took place at the end of March in Arkhangelsk. On it, as the Region 29 news agency writes, the general director of OJSC Interregional Company Belkomur Vladimir Shchelokov said that the Chinese side [the investor of the project is the investor Poly International Holding Co., Ltd] was asked to move on to the practical implementation of the project, that is, consider it in the executive authorities, create joint ventures to promote the project, and conclude an intergovernmental memorandum. “We are already at the level of making a decision to create a joint venture and promote the project. The decision has not been made yet, but, in any case, we are actively discussing these issues,” he added.

The head of Komi also spoke out on this matter Sergey Gaplikov: “The understanding of the prospects of Belkomur is absolutely the same for all project participants. We, as modern youth say, are on the same wavelength. I can say that such a long-term situation with the assessment of Belkomur and its prospects forces us and all project participants to move more actively towards its practical implementation, to more significantly select the evidence base, to confirm the effectiveness of the project for the country.”

The project has a history of more than a century. The first official mention of plans to build a railway, which would connect the industrial areas of the Urals with the White Sea, dates back to 1912. The start of the project - the construction of the Arkhangelsk - Karpogory and Vendiga - Mikun sections - took place in 1947-1954, when more than 400 kilometers of railway were built.

The project received the name “Belkomur” (WHITE Sea - KOMI - URAL) in 1995, when construction began on two sections of the future highway. To manage and implement the project, a joint stock company of the same name was created in 1996.

At the beginning of 1998, the Belkomur company began construction of the Northern section of the new railway simultaneously from two directions: from the Arkhangelsk region on the Karpogory-Sharda section, 22.2 kilometers long, and from the Komi side on the Ertom-Vendinga section, 17.85 kilometers long. . This was the end of serious construction.

IN 2008 Belkomur was included in the transport strategy of Russia until 2030 and the strategy for the development of railway transport until 2030. They wanted to finance the project from the Russian Investment Fund. In 2011, the project was included in the development strategy of the Northwestern Federal District.

IN 2010-2011 Due to a lack of funds, the governments of Komi, the Arkhangelsk Region and the Perm Territory prepared a new concept for the implementation of the project on the principles of public-private partnership with the attraction of funds from private investors.

Now the Belkomur project is a comprehensive program of industrial and infrastructural development, which involves the construction of a railway line on the principles of public-private partnership and the launch of a number of private business projects for the development of deposits and the opening of new production facilities in connection with the future highway to ensure uninterrupted freight flows.

The project involves the construction of a railway that will connect Arkhangelsk, Syktyvkar, Kudymkar and Perm. The total length of the tracks will be 1,161 kilometers, of which about 712 are new construction, about 450 are reconstruction of existing sections of the track. “Belkomur” consists of two sections: the northern one, which runs through the territory of the Arkhangelsk region and Komi, and the southern one – from Syktyvkar through the territory of Komi and the Perm region. The capacity of the line being created is about 35 million tons of cargo per year. This will mainly include coal, mineral fertilizers, oil and timber cargo, ores, building materials, and containers.

For Russia, the new highway is of strategic importance, since it will directly connect the Urals and Komi with the ice-free ports of Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and Northern Europe. The road is also considered as an integral part of the pan-European international transport corridor “Barents Link”, this is a project for the development of a railway transport corridor in the Barents region - from Scandinavia to the Urals. In the future, the new road will provide the shortest route to Northern Europe and the regions of Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, creating good conditions for the transit of goods through Russia. Belkomur will reduce delivery time and distance from Northern European countries to Southeast Asia and China by 800 kilometers.

We recommend a blogger masterok(Valery Petrov), who published a post in his LiveJournal where he gives the history of the Belkomur project and discusses its economic prospects.

In January 2013 A meeting was held in Moscow where the construction of the railway line was implemented. The total estimated cost was estimated at 176 billion rubles, of which 140 billion should go to the construction of new facilities, and 36 billion to the reconstruction of existing sites. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev immediately funding the development of project documentation for Belkomura, as well as a concession model for implementation. The cost of drawing up design estimates is estimated at 3.8 billion rubles. Work on the design of the Belkomur railway was scheduled to begin in 2013.

In June 2013, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, there was talk about the implementation of a comprehensive program of industrial and infrastructural development on the principles of PPP. The leaders of four regions promised each other to further develop Belkomur: Komi, Perm Territory, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions. In August, Belkomur was added to the list of priority investment projects in the Northwestern Federal District. This would provide additional administrative support for the project and simplify the process of various approvals. In September, the Komi government included Belkomur in the state program for the development of the Russian Arctic until 2020.

About his desire to participate in the construction of the Vnesheconombank highway. Despite the fact that Belkomur remains a mythical project for now, people are taking a closer look at it foreign investors. In October 2013, the Komi government held negotiations with the leadership of Turkish companies - the KALEM ENERJI consortium and the STFA holding, and the foreigners expressed “Belkomur”. In November 2012, there was a memorandum of cooperation between OJSC MK Belkomur and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation. The possibility of Chinese participation in the construction of Belkomur appeared at the beginning of 2013. In February, SESSION at Belkomur. In June, Deutsche Bahn International GmbH participated in the project.

Deputy Head of Komi Alexander Burov at the V Northern Investment Forum in Syktyvkar, he said that the issue of building an interregional railway has been practically agreed upon with all interested parties, its implementation can begin as early as 2014. In this case, the new transport artery will be built by 2018 or 2019. In general, under the Belkomur comprehensive program, the total investment volume will be more than $30 billion, of which a fifth will go to the construction and reconstruction of the highway. At the same time, budget investments will amount to only $2 billion.

The result of another unrealistic year of Belkomur in December 2013, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin. He called the project important: “The country must use its transit potential. Moreover, some countries are trying to build transport routes around us. The development of Siberia and the Polar Urals is provided for by a number of transport projects. Part of it is connected with Komi, with access to the northern seas.”

Judging by the “News” section of the Belkomur website, in 2014 nothing serious happened either. In March, V. Gaiser said that Komi was awaiting a decision on the project at the federal level, clarifying that the construction of the highway could be completed by 2019-2020. In June, a meeting of Belkomur shareholders was held, at which it was decided not to pay dividends for 2013. And in September in Beijing, an agreement of intent and mutual understanding was signed on cooperation within the framework of the project between JSC Belkomur and the Chinese corporation China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, a subsidiary of the holding company China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), the world's largest association in the field railway construction. The agreement defines the principles of cooperation on the participation of the Chinese side in the investment, design and construction of the railway.

The results of 2014 summed up Vyacheslav Gaizer. Belkomur can give impetus to the development of projects worth almost a trillion rubles. Some of them are still being implemented, but the pace is immeasurably lower than if the route had been built. If we want to move forward not in words, but in deeds, we must develop infrastructure and ensure accessibility to economically interesting territories,” the press service of the head and government of the region quotes him as saying. As an example of projects that could receive a new impetus for development from the construction of Belkomur, he cited the Usinsk company Yenisei: “This is the northernmost oil refinery in the world, it can process a million tons per year. But in order to reach the design capacity of 3.5 million tons, we need to provide infrastructure.”

According to the head of the republic, 40 percent of commercial timber in the European part of the country as a whole is located on the territory of Komi. “Our estimated logging area is 32 million cubic meters, but we harvest several times less. There is simply no access to the rest. If Belkomur had been built, they would have been able to open up to 50 percent of the commercial logging area. Accordingly, this would make it possible to at least build a second timber processing complex, like the Syktyvkar forestry complex,” he gave another example.

V. Gaiser also named the cost of construction of the Belkomur railway as 180 billion rubles, while state funding should amount to no more than 50 billion rubles. Full construction is possible within four years.

Komi continues to actively lobby for the project at the federal level together with the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. “We have completely changed the structure of the financing model for the Belkomur project to suit today’s conditions on the principles of public-private partnership, but taking into account the funds of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the National Welfare Fund (NWF). The new model will be built on the capabilities of the RDIF and the National Welfare Fund with the attraction of borrowed funds from those who are currently interested in this project: builders, foreign financial institutions and, in part, potential shippers,” explained the head of the region.

IN 2015 Komi "Belkomur" in federal programs. But the main result is the signing of an agreement with Poly Technologies, Inc. The Chinese corporation agreed to invest its funds in the development of working documentation and ensuring the construction of the railway itself, and in the future to be responsible for its operation. Under the terms of the concession agreement, Russia will pay Poly Technologies for the costs it incurs for 25 years: the Chinese corporation will be paid 10.8 billion rubles annually - a total of about 225 billion over 21 years (2021-2041). After this, the highway will become the property of Russia.

After the course was set for Artik, Belkomur was given a new content. It is officially stated that the project forms a new railway route connecting the industrialized regions of Siberia and the Urals with the ports of the North and North-West of Russia. Together with such projects as the “Murmansk Transport Hub”, “Northern Latitudinal Railway” and the construction of the new port of Sabetta, the expansion of the Arkhangelsk port “Belkomur” will increase the efficiency of the development of Arctic projects and will ensure the formation of an international railway transport corridor through the territory of Russia in the direction of the European North - China . At the regional level, the project will provide an opportunity for industrial and socio-economic development of Komi, Perm Krai, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions and other adjacent regions.

During the creation of the highway, it is planned to implement 39 more investment projects in the North-West, attract over 720 billion rubles of private investment, increase GDP by over 1.3 trillion rubles in the first ten years, and create over 28 thousand new jobs.

After the change of power in Komi, Belkomur did not cease to be a deferred priority project. As the acting head of Komi stated in December 2015 Sergey Gaplikov, the region is counting on the dynamic implementation of the project: “We are very interested in this project.” Speaking in St. Petersburg at the “Arctic: Present and Future” forum, S. Gaplikov presented expert estimates on the project. In 2012, the construction of new infrastructure within the project was estimated at 140 billion rubles, the reconstruction of existing tracks - at 36 billion.

The cost of the project changes every time, so no one has made real calculations yet. For example, in mid-2015 the amount was quoted as 240-250 billion rubles. In May 2016 Yuri Demochkin estimated costs at 225-230 billion. “The amount can only change at the stage of preparation and signing of the concession agreement, when the Chinese side and ours will recalculate costs and carefully determine the cost of all work. Then the amount may change, but we believe that it cannot change significantly,” said the then general director of OJSC Interregional Company Belkomur.

It was assumed that the concession agreement for the project could be signed in February-March 2017. Deputy Governor of the Arkhangelsk Region Vladimir Shchelokov then that the investor is ready to invest up to 5.5 billion US dollars (343.2 billion rubles at the then exchange rate) into the project.

IN 2017 the project was reviewed by a number of federal ministries and departments, receiving several comments. It was announced that in general the project is in a very high degree of readiness, and by the summer of 2017 it is planned to present it to the Russian government for subsequent decision-making on implementation on the concession-type PPP principle.

The main shareholders of Belkomur OJSC are the founding regions represented by ministries or property management agencies: the Komi Republic (48.32 percent), the Arkhangelsk Region (19.81 percent) and the Perm Territory (9.42 percent). The share of other enterprises and institutions is 22.45 percent. The state's share in the company's authorized capital is currently 77.55 percent.

Photos from firestock.ru and belkomur.com

The Belkomur project seems eternal. They either return to it or forget about it for decades. With Russia’s activity in the Arctic, the regions have hope that a new road will appear, but the federal authorities are once again putting the project on the back burner. Does Russia even need a new highway in the North?

Railroad bridge

One Hundred Years of Belkomur
For the first time, people started talking about the construction of a railway that would connect the industrial areas of the Urals with the White Sea even before the revolution, in 1912. But the first sections with a total length of more than 400 km (Arkhangelsk - Karpogory and Vendinga - Mikun) appeared only in post-war period- in 1947-1954.

The project itself, called “Belkomur” (“White Sea - Komi - Ural”), was formed in 1995. The Komi Republic, Arkhangelsk Region and Perm Territory established the interregional joint-stock company Belkomur the following year. After this, two more sections were built: in Pomorie and Komi - a total of 40 km. In the late 1990s, due to the financial crisis, construction was frozen, and this idea was returned to only in 2007.

The project provides for the creation of the Arkhangelsk - Syktyvkar - Solikamsk - Perm railway with a total length of more than 1,100 km. The highway was supposed to improve the conditions of transport services and could contribute to the development of the rich resources of the three regions. However, despite numerous statements about the importance of the project, it has not yet been implemented.

Transport routes of the Barents-Ural region
“As for the construction itself, we hope that it will begin no later than 2013,” said the Minister of Development of Industry, Transport and Communications of Komi Anton Fridman in the summer of 2011. But construction has not yet begun.

Lots of plans
More than six years have passed since Friedman's statement. But regional officials and project implementers remain optimistic. Vladimir Shchelokov, general director of the interregional company Belkomur, is confident that the highway will appear soon.

“For the state, this project is not just profitable, but super profitable,” Shchelokov said at the “Arctic: Present and Future” forum held in St. Petersburg in early December. - According to our calculations, the gross regional product of the three constituent entities of Russia will grow by 5.4%, and about 40 new enterprises will be created. Regions will have the opportunity to unlock their resource potential.”

Forecasts by the Institute of Economics and Transport Development confirm Belkomur’s maximum capacity of 35 million tons of cargo per year. According to Shchelokov, the new railway will allow the delivery of various types of raw materials from the regions: 5 million cubic meters of timber from the territory of the Arkhangelsk region, 7 million cubic meters from the Komi Republic, which also stores all of Russia’s oil shale reserves, half of Russian titanium reserves, about 30% bauxite reserves.

The emergence of Belkomur will also help the Perm region, in particular, in the export of potash fertilizers from the Solikamsk-Bereznikovsky hub. The main consumers of the goods are Brazil and China, and when sending cargo via Belkomur to the deep-water port of Arkhangelsk (subject to its availability), Perm suppliers will receive an alternative and more economical export option.

The prospects are described as rosy - the question is finding a sponsor, and it does not give the interested regions peace. Last week, on December 18, the government of the Komi Republic announced that it wants to sell most of its shares in the Belkomur company at an online auction. This, according to the authorities, should help find a potential investor for the project and bring forward the date of its implementation.

Komi’s decision to sell his stake was also supported by the governor of the Arkhangelsk region, Igor Orlov, calling it “an expected and logical step.”

“The interest of investors in the shares of this company once again confirms the prospects and relevance of the railway construction project,” the head of Pomorye emphasized.

Speaking about interested investors, Igor Orlov means the largest Chinese corporation Poly Technology, which in September 2015 signed an agreement with OJSC MK Belkomur on the joint implementation of the construction of the highway. The Chinese side sees Belkomur as an additional access to the Northern Sea Route, but the road can only become one if there is a new deep-water port at its end point - Arkhangelsk.

However, today the construction of a port in Arkhangelsk has more disadvantages than advantages. The place is characterized by shallow waters; the mouth of the Dvina is periodically filled with sand. There is a difficult ice situation and an inconvenient coastline for a large port. Experts note that the construction of such a facility will cost more than Belkomur.

The project for the new port is not included in the project of the Arkhangelsk Support Zone - the main document by which one can judge the strategy for the development of the Arctic territories of the region until 2025. It turns out that because of the problem at the end point, the implementation of the entire highway project is called into question.

The road to lower income
In 2016 prices, the cost of Belkomur is 330 billion rubles, but the financing scheme is still vague. JSC Belkomur hopes for a public-private partnership under a concession scheme, in which JSC Russian Railways is also expected to participate. The company is not too interested in the speedy construction of a new highway and proposes to forget about it until 2025.

In 2017, the Institute of Economics and Transport Development (IEDT), a subsidiary of Russian Railways, studied how Belkomur would affect the company’s development prospects in the region.

“When designing Belkomur, Russian Railways will develop other directions to a lesser extent in order to ensure freight flow along the new highway. This means that the company will lose part of its income, but in the future it will still have a positive financial result,” Alexey Zamkova, head of the transport market development department at IERT, told a REGNUM correspondent.

The expert added that Russian Railways now has a certain stage of development without options, when it is necessary to meet the needs of the economy and existing traffic volumes. Belkomur will be implemented if there is a need for another fork and an additional direction.

Sources close to the company believe that the redirection of cargo to Belkomur in the next 30 years will lead to a decrease in the monopoly’s income by more than 500 billion rubles, the Kommersant newspaper reported. Therefore, Russian Railways seem to have made a choice in favor of alternative routes and plans to increase their capacity by 2025.

This week, on December 21, it became known that in January 2018, Russian Railways will begin designing the northern railway bypass of Perm.

“The Board of Directors of Russian Railways approved the investment program for 2018, which takes into account the costs of design and development of the Perm railway hub. I am sure that in January we will start designing,” said Oleg Toni, Deputy General Director of Russian Railways, during a meeting with the head of the Perm Territory.

As Alexander Goloviznin, director of logistics and analytics at Morstroytekhnologiya, told a REGNUM correspondent, with this action Russian Railways made it clear that they were not very interested in Belkomur.

“The situation is complex and confusing,” the expert gave a general assessment of the project. “The Komi Republic has announced its readiness to sell 41% of the shares of the company implementing the project. If this offer is not made under a pre-worked out deal with Poly Technology, I am afraid that it will not be easy to find buyers "

Moreover, according to him, the likelihood that the implementation of the Belkomur project will begin in the near future is low. Along the highway, there are studies on the cargo base, and on the route, and on the financial model, but their depth is insufficient.

Thus, the optimistic plans of regional managers and representatives of the Belkomur company are dashed by reality. It is, of course, premature to say that the highway will not exist. But there is still no point in waiting for construction to begin in the coming years. In addition, there are other plans for infrastructure development in the Arctic regions, some of which look much more realistic.

What if not Belkomur?
During the visit of the head of the Komi Republic Sergei Gaplikov to the Kingdom of Bahrain on December 11, the governor invited Arab investors to take part in the construction of the Sosnogorsk-Indiga railway line.

This branch is part of another frozen railway project - Barentskomur (Barents Sea - Komi - Ural). The highway could connect Indiga, Sosnogorsk, Troitsko-Pechorsk, Polunochnoye and Surgut - and therefore run almost parallel to Belkomur.

Without voicing the name “Barentskomur”, the head of Komi Sergei Gaplikov actually proposed investing part of this Sosnogorsk-Indiga highway. Hypothetically, the branch could replace the part of Belkomur leading to Arkhangelsk, and thus put an end to the construction of a deep-water port in the Arctic. However, industry experts do not believe in the implementation of Barentskomur, calling the project even more crude than Belkomur.

The final point of the Barentskomur - the port of Indiga - also raises questions. According to the Captain Arctic telegram channel, “Indiga beats Arkhangelsk in depth, convenience of the coastline, and fewer days on which ice support is needed. But it is losing due to the lack of infrastructure and labor resources.” However, Alexander Tsybulsky, head of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, on whose territory the port of Indiga is located, considers it a promising point on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and one of the most important projects for the development of the Okrug as an Arctic region.

The development of the Northern Sea Route as a globally important sea route is one of Russia’s priorities. It is known that there is practically no proper road and railway infrastructure in the Russian Arctic, and northern ports need land connections with other regions of the country. The only question is to what extent each NSR point needs to be provided with such communications.

During the annual press conference of the Russian President, which took place on December 14, 2017, Vladimir Putin emphasized the importance of Arctic projects. However, the president did not name either Belkomur or Barentskomur among the examples. The emphasis was placed on Yamal LNG and the Northern Latitudinal Route (NSH), which are being implemented in Yamal.

The 707 km long Northern Highway will provide a connection between the Northern and Sverdlovsk railways and access to the Northern Sea Route - and thereby change transport links in the central part of the Russian Arctic. Northwestern Russian ports are pinning their hopes on the Northern Latitudinal Railway.

Anna Gorokhova, Victoria Babaeva

Belkomir (WHITE Sea - KOMI - URAL), Polar Transsib(1930s) - planned strategic railway line Russian Federation, which will directly connect the regions of Siberia and the Urals (possibly in the future also the railway lines of China) with strategic enterprises Northwestern Federal District of the Russian Federation.

Belkomur will help relieve congestion on the existing Gorky, Sverdlovsk, Northern and Oktyabrskaya railways in the northern direction.

Planned length of the highway: 1252 km, of which new construction: 712 km, the remainder: existing sections owned by Russian Railways JSC, but requiring modernization.

The new strategic railway will become one of the most promising from the point of view of respecting strategic interests in ensuring the economic security of the Russian Federation, for enterprises in the North-West of Russia, the Urals, Siberia and the states of Central Asia.

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Belkomur

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Background

In 1778, during the spring flood, Cherdyn merchants managed to deliver several ships with grain directly to Ust-Sysolsk (now Syktyvkar), which passed along the Southern Keltma to the Northern Keltma. This is how the unique Dzhurich River was discovered, the only one flowing simultaneously into two seas: in the upper reaches through the Northern Dvina to the Beloe, in the lower reaches through the Kama to the Caspian. But Djuric connected both seas only during especially high-water periods.

By decree of Catherine II (at the suggestion of Vasily Tatishchev), surveys were carried out and in 1785 a canal project was drawn up that permanently connected Northern Keltma with the Djurich River. The 17-kilometer-long canal, called North Ekaterininsky, was dug intermittently for 37 years (until 1822), spending 400 thousand rubles on it. As a result, the route from the Kama to the tributaries of the Northern Dvina was a little less than 400 versts.

The canal worked for only 25 years, after which it began to quickly become shallow and was abandoned. Currently, its depth is only a few tens of centimeters, and the width of the unovergrown part of the channel is from one to three meters. Attempts were made periodically to restore the channel. The last attempt came in the 70s of the twentieth century, when nuclear explosions were used to deepen the bottom.

In 1878, the first trains went along the main direction of the Ural Mining Railway from Perm to Yekaterinburg via Chusovaya, Kushva and Nizhny Tagil. The following year, train service began along the Lunievskaya line to the Solevarnaya station on the Kama at the first soda plant in Russia. Somewhat later, the Usolskaya station was built, which received the name Berezniki about a quarter of a century ago. In 1886, the Perm railway was connected with the Samara-Zlatoust and Siberian roads, and in 1899 regular traffic on the Perm-Kotlas railway began. In 1906, after the commissioning of the Vyatka-Obukhovo line, the Perm Railway acquired the significance of a highway connecting the European and Siberian parts of Russia.

The economically efficient connection of the Kama and Ob basins by railway made it possible to raise the question of an equally advantageous connection of the Kama and Pechora basins. Back in 1914-1916, a special commission of the Ministry of Railways carried out planning schemes and considered projects for the construction of railways in the general direction of Perm - Pechora. The main economic arguments for laying the Kama-Pechora lines were the significant mineral, forestry and hunting resources of the upper reaches of the Pechora and Vishera, which otherwise could not be developed due to the almost complete impassability of roads.

The Perm - Pechora - Ukhta railway project, which had ultimate goal access to Indigo Bay on the coast of the Barents Sea was not the only option for the development of the Perm North and the upper reaches of the Pechora. Soon after the Great October Socialist Revolution, on the initiative of V.I. Lenin, the mining and metallurgical department of the Supreme Economic Council announced a competition to develop a project for supplying Ural factories with Kuznetsk coal. Among the options for this project, the proposals of the prominent Ural scientist V. E. Grum-Grzhimailo for the construction of the North Siberian Railway along the line Tomsk - Tobolsk - Verkhoturye - Solikamsk - Kotlas - Soroki were considered. This so-called “Northern Routes project” involved the comprehensive development of the forest resources of the North of European Russia, the Urals and Western Siberia mainly for the needs of the Ural metallurgy. A railway route from Siberia to Ukhta, similar in direction, passing northeast of the Northern Routes, with an option through Cherdyn, was laid in 1918 by engineer Maslov, who paid special attention to the opportunity that emerged during the implementation of the project to exploit the rich deposits of iron ore in the Vishera River.

Among the very interesting projects of the Verkhnekamsk Railways are numerous economically justified proposals for the construction of the line Votkinsk - Mendeleevo - Chermoz and Kizel and further through the Urals. On the European section of this road, survey work was carried out back in 1913-1914.

In 1927, in connection with the construction of the first potash plant, the Lunievskaya line was extended to Solikamsk, and in 1933 the first electric trains in the Urals passed along this road. According to the plans of the second five-year plan, it was planned to release fertility salts to the west through the Fosforitnaya station to Kirov and further to the center of the country. Among the important advantages of this railway was the ability to produce complex fertilizers from Kirov Verkhnekamsk phosphorites, Solikamsk potassium and Berezniki ammonium nitrate. Unfortunately, the implementation of this plan was postponed to the forties and stopped by the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War. Also, several options for latitudinal railways in the general direction Kotlas - Ob through the northern regions of the Komi-Permyak Okrug and the Kolvo-Vishersky Territory could not be implemented and still require close attention.

Since the mid-20th century, scientists from the Institute of Economics of the Ural Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Perm state university, Sverdlovsk Institute National economy, engineers and scientists of the Institute of Complex Transport Problems under the State Planning Committee of the USSR, Uralgiprotrans, Lengiprotrans, Lengiprogor, as well as many other institutions and organizations. Among the relatively recent, most well-developed design solutions for railways from Berezniki to Kirov and Kotelnich, one can highlight the project carried out by the Institute of Complex Transport Problems under the USSR State Planning Committee. The necessity of laying both a railway and a permanent highway from Solikamsk through Krasnovishersk to Troitsko-Pechorsk is justified. In the future, these highways should take over large ones, which are still hampered by the lack of the right roads flows of coal, ores, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, commercial timber from the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Ob region to the Perm region.

The Institute of Economic and Social Problems of the North of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Syktyvkar) carried out a feasibility study and made proposals for the expansion of the Arkhangelsk seaport and the creation of a new transport outlet to the Arkhangelsk seaport for cargo from the Urals, Western Siberia, Komi SSR and Volgo-Vyatka economic region. For a comparative analysis of economic efficiency, six options for cargo flow routes from the Urals and Western Siberia, four options for cargo flows from the Volga-Vyatka economic region, and five from the northern and southern regions of the Komi SSR were considered. The most optimal, both in terms of the cost of new construction and reconstruction of existing railways, and in terms of the length of cargo routes from the Urals and Western Siberia, is the Sverdlovsk - Perm - Yar - Lesnaya - Syktyvkar - Mikun - Karpogory - Arkhangelsk railway route. At the same time, it is planned to build new sections of the Lesnaya - Syktyvkar and Vendinga - Karpogory railways, as well as reconstruct and strengthen existing communication routes.

Prerequisites

Belkomur is the shortest route connecting the industrial areas of Western Siberia with the seaport in Arkhangelsk. Reducing the distance to northern ports by approximately 800 km. The highway makes sense only if the port infrastructure is developed, so the port in Arkhangelsk is being prepared to receive marine vessels of all classes. It is located in shallow waters, the Northern Dvina continuously deposits sand and silt, so the port needs to carry out regular dredging of large volumes. These works in themselves are not economically feasible as long as there is no corresponding cargo flow, which should appear thanks to Belkomur.

Almost all Russian railways were built from west to east. Belkomur has a chance to become the first meridional road from north to south. Resources: timber, metals, coal from the Kizelovsky basin, Kuznetsk basin, Vorkuta. There will be a supply of bauxite and apatite to the Sverdlovsk region, where non-ferrous metallurgy is developed.

The Arkhangelsk port claims to regain its status as the main port of the Northern Sea Route, which it occupied before the construction of the Murmansk seaport, that is, until 1916. It already has an oil terminal. However, this is not enough to turn the Arkhangelsk port into a deep-water seaport.

Arkhangelsk deep-water port project (2007) in numbers:

• 30 million tons - the port's annual cargo turnover, the ability to receive ships with a deadweight of up to 70 thousand tons.
• 41-51 billion rubles - the volume of capital expenditures. 5 billion rubles - state participation (canal construction), 36-46 billion rubles - private investment.
• 2 years from the start of construction - project implementation period with 100% financing.
• 1,500 new jobs in the port itself. 7,500 additional jobs at the port infrastructure being created (construction of new enterprises: cargo processing, assembly shops of world auto giants, etc.).
• 6 billion rubles - the port's annual cash turnover, 4 billion rubles - balance sheet profit, 300 million rubles - annual tax contributions to the federal budget, 660 million rubles - to the regional budget.
• 8-10 years - average payback of the project.

It was planned that cargo flow for Belkomur could only appear thanks to the development of industrial enterprises of the Komi Republic, Perm Territory, Urals Federal District, Siberian Federal District, Far Eastern Federal District and even PriFD, which supply their products for export.

In addition, China is interested in the shortest route to Europe. , ,

On this moment Among the large shippers for the railway within the Perm Territory and the Komi Republic, only potash fertilizer producers (Uralkali OJSC and Silvinit OJSC) and pulp and paper companies are listed. Fertilizer producers need a road and a port in Arkhangelsk to reduce the time it takes to deliver their products to Europe. The second largest user of the Belkomur railway, after potash workers, is the timber industry. Syktyvkar is a major industrial center and, in particular, a center of the pulp and paper industry. Berezniki and Solikamsk are major centers chemical industry, while one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the Russian Federation, OJSC Solikamskbumprom, is located in Solikamsk, but on the Arkhangelsk-Vendinga section there is no industry except logging, which is poorly developed.

Among the major shippers for Belkomur within the Siberian Federal District is the Kuznetsk coal basin, which can load this railway even more than the enterprises of Syktyvkar, Solikamsk and Berezniki combined.

The topic of building this road has been raised several times over the past century. Construction of the highway began several times, and separate sections were built.

Start of the project

On September 8, 1995, the constituent meeting of shareholders of the open joint-stock company Belkomur took place in Syktyvkar. The purpose of creating the joint-stock company is the design and construction of the railway line Arkhangelsk - Syktyvkar - Kudymkar - Grigoryevskaya station. . There are 70 km of route through the territory of the Perm region, and 294 km through the territory of the Komi Republic. 770 km of new lines, restoration of old lines. . When the project is implemented, about 24 thousand new jobs will open.

• Komi Republic, 54.62% of shares (JSC Komi Fuel and Energy Complex, Komibank, Syktyvkar Timber Pulp and Paper Mill)
• Arkhangelsk region, 17.53% shares (Arkhangelsk seaport)
• Perm region, 35% of shares (Regional Committee for Property Management; Perm Enterprise "Grazhdanstroyzakazchik" (GSZ JSC))
• Komi-Permyatsky district, including 14.8% of shares (now the last two subjects of the federation make up the Perm region).

The Perm region contributed 6.7 billion rubles as a share to the authorized capital of the Belkomur company, formed for the construction of this road. . In 1998, the Arkhangelsk region allocated 27 million rubles for the purposes of Belkomur, the Komi Republic 30 million rubles. Active participation The Big Ural Association (Ekaterinburg) is participating in the project. The leading role in the construction of the railway belongs to the North-West Association (St. Petersburg).

The chief engineer of the railway construction project, Sergey Ozersky from the Uralgiprotrans Institute, has been appointed (study and marking of the future railway route). Chief specialist, project manager from the environmental department of Nordeco JSC Mikhail Maskov.

In November 1998, the symbolic silver crutch of Belkomur was hammered in the presence of three governors. Then several kilometers of road were built (about 4 km each near Karpogor and near Vendinga). However, due to the financial crisis, construction was frozen.

Structure

Construction of the highway is planned to be carried out simultaneously in the northern and southern sections, including with the gradual strengthening of existing sections. As part of the construction sites of the northern section, launch complexes for the entry of the Arkhangelsk - Syktyvkar railway line with a length of 672 km are allocated, for the creation of which the construction of the missing section of Karpogory - Vendinga is provided.

Another section of the new construction is Yuzhny (Syktyvkar - Gayny - Solikamsk), which will connect the Bereznikovsko-Solikamsk industrial hub (BSPU), the world's largest conglomerate for the production of potash and nitrogen fertilizers, with the northern ports and will eliminate the deadlock and provide a second railway exit from the BSPU.

Purpose of the road

1. Reducing the distance of export-import transportation from the port of Arkhangelsk to Ural by 800 km.
2. Reducing the transportation route for Pechora coal to the Urals to 350 km.
3. The possibility of carrying out freight and passenger transportation for the Komi-Permyak district, Nytvensky and Karagay districts of the Perm region (transit railway regions instead of a transport railway and road dead end).
4. Transportation of bauxite from the Timan deposit to the Urals.
5. Further development of the highway to Ufa, Orenburg, Kazakhstan, Central Asia.
6. Further development of the highway to Kazakhstan, Central Asia, China and Mongolia, as well as the development of railway transport links for the delivery of gems and diamonds from deposits in the Arkhangelsk region and Karelia to Central Asia and China.

Expected economic effect

The economic feasibility of building a road is determined by the ratio of the costs of its creation and the income received from its operation. Investments in the road by 2005 on the “Perm” section are 12.6 billion rubles. 1 km of Belkomur is estimated at more than 30 million rubles.

The basis of cargo transportation should be oil, gas, coal, bauxite, manganese and chromite ores, timber and lumber, which provide up to 70% of all foreign exchange earnings to the Russian treasury. It is estimated that their volume along the Perm-Syktyvkar-Arkhangelsk line will be 10 million tons after five years, and will double in another five years. To build the road, 980 thousand sleepers are needed.

The route will connect by the shortest route two most important territories of the Russian Federation: 12 regions of the North-West and 9 regions of the Urals, providing up to 80% of foreign exchange earnings to the Russian budget. Belkomur will ensure the supply of cheap oil, gas, bauxite, chromium, manganese, coal, timber and other natural resources to the Ural factories. This will allow us to produce and sell competitive products. For example: the main volume of bauxite supplies from Greece and Tunisia costs Russia 65-75 dollars per ton, and from Syktyvkar 3 dollars, that is, 25 times more economical. Vorkuta coal is 2.5 times cheaper than Kuzbass coal, and 5 times cheaper than coal imported from Poland.

According to experts, the internal profitability of the road should be 25.6%, the profitability index - 5.66. Moreover, it is assumed that Belkomur will be engaged not only in the construction of the railway. His plans include logging, woodworking, production of building materials, and other types of activities, including foreign economic activities. In addition, in the area where the highway passes, the company intends to create new high-tech enterprises, build residential buildings, and social facilities.

The construction of the southern link of the highway will reduce the mileage of cargo by 390-800 km or more, and reduce the cost of transportation by 40-50%. This will create the shortest exit from the Komi Republic to the Urals and will ensure direct transport of goods from the Urals to Arkhangelsk, Karelia and the ports of Finland. Commissioning of the northern section of the highway will ensure a reduction in freight mileage by 160-420 km and transportation costs by 20-65%, and will provide access to the seaports of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk.

During construction it is planned to use the existing branch of JSC Russian Railways Yar - Verkhnekamskaya, passing through the territory Kirov region, and its continuation to the Krutoborka station of the Gaino-Kai railway in the Ust-Kulomsky district of the Komi Republic, owned by the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, which will be crossed by the new highway. This speeds up the construction of the road and provides additional opportunities to involve the north of the Kirov region in the economic life. The regional coverage area of ​​Belkomur is formed by all routes on which the designed railway line will reduce transport distances. Route transportation along Belkomur in many cases will lead to a significant reduction in distances traveled.

The greatest reduction in transportation costs, from 20% to 30%, can be achieved on the route from Vorkuta and Perm to Arkhangelsk (up to 800 km). The goal of the project is the exploration and development of vast areas of currently underutilized territories in the north of the European part of Russia with a total area of ​​1,463,900 km, which corresponds to three areas of France.

Main goals of the project

The implementation of the project will ensure year-round transport connections with settlements and enterprises in the vast territory of North-West Russia.

The project region is rich in mineral and forest resources. The largest oil and gas fields are located here. The region is home to deposits of coal, bauxite, phosphates, titanium and other minerals. One of the world's largest deposits of potassium salts is located here. This territory is home to 6,550,000 people.

• creating an infrastructure basis for long-term economic growth in the northern territories of the European part of Russia.
• comprehensive development of new economic regions and access to transport-inaccessible areas.
• ensuring the availability of new deposits of natural resources.
• improving the quality of life of the population.
• unloading the existing railway network with redistribution of flows.
• creation of a new transport corridor and elimination of infrastructure dead ends.
• creation of a new deep-water port in the North of Russia.
• creation of new jobs.

Project implementation

The project is included in the following documents:

1. 2000 - the customer for the construction of the Timan-Chinyavoryk railway line was the Siberian-Ural Aluminum Company (SUAL). In mid-August, a 110-meter bridge across the taiga river Vym was put into operation.
2. On September 7, 2004, an auction was to be held for the sale of the federal block of shares of OJSC Interregional Company Belkomur in the amount of 12.44 percent of the authorized capital. 25 thousand shares were put up for auction. The initial selling price of the package is 20,123 thousand rubles. The authorized capital of the joint-stock company is 200,977 thousand rubles and is divided into 200,977 ordinary shares with a par value of 1 thousand rubles each. The first auction did not take place due to lack of applications. The Russian Federal Property Fund in St. Petersburg held an auction for the sale of shares of OJSC Interregional Company Belkomur owned by the state. Four individuals and one entity. A package of 12.44 percent of shares was sold on the third attempt for 1.5 million rubles.
3. 2004 - the business plan for the construction of the Belkomur railway (Arkhangelsk - Syktyvkar - Kudymkar - Perm) received a positive expert opinion from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Russia. The project was submitted for examination to JSC Russian Railways. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development expressed its readiness to invest from 35 to 50% of the estimated cost in the construction of the road.
4. 2005 - the next section of the construction of the Perm - Kudymkar - Syktyvkar - Arkhangelsk highway was put into operation.
5. 2007 - the Belkomur railway was considered as part of the project for the construction of the Scandinavian transport corridor "Barents Link". The Belkomur highway project was included in the strategic development plan of JSC Russian Railways until 2030. The preparation of the application to the Investment Fund of the Russian Federation is carried out by the specially created interregional investment company “North-West - Kama Region”. Sum necessary funds for the development of design estimates for Belkomur is estimated at 6-8 billion rubles. The operator of the project should be the interregional investment company North-West - Prikamye. The amount of investment under discussion is from 50 to 100 billion rubles. 120 km of road have already been built. Work on the project has resumed, but not just in the form of highway construction, but as a comprehensive program for the development of North-West Russia.
6. September 18-21, 2008 - at the VII International Investment Forum in Sochi, the Belkomur project received the approval of the Prime Minister of Russia V.V. Putin. Interregional Investment Company "North-West - Prikamye" and the company "Transstroy" signed an agreement on cooperation in the construction of a railway line with a length of 1252 kilometers.
7. On January 29, 2009, the project was approved by the Ministry of Transport.
8. On August 7, 2009, the project was approved at a meeting of the Investment Commission for the selection of projects applying for budgetary allocations from the Investment Fund of the Russian Federation. Also in 2009, the project was supported by the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The railway line was planned to open in 2018
9. July 2012 - a possible decision was announced to adjust the project and create infrastructure only within the southern link of Syktyvkar - Gayny - Solikamsk. The project can be implemented in full only if state support in addition to the funds raised, since it is expected that low-tariff class cargo will predominate in transportation on this road. . However, as of March 2013, the project had not been approved. In January 2013, the preparation of project documents was completed full version Belkomura, the decision on the final version is still to come.
10. On June 27, 2013, the German company announced the possibility of attracting partners from Germany and other countries to implement the plans of participants in the construction of Belkomur. In accordance with the Memorandum of the heads of regions, in order to prepare for the implementation of the Project, the company Interregional Investment Company North-West-Prikamye LLC was created.
11. On September 3, 2015, as part of the visit of the President of Russia to the PRC, an agreement was signed between general director OJSC MK Belkomur and the general director of Poly Technologies, Inc, according to which Poly Technologies becomes the general contractor of the project and will take part in the financing, design, construction of new sites and modernization of existing ones. Construction will be carried out on concession terms; In addition to construction, the Chinese company will be responsible for operating the railway. The Russian Federation will pay for the costs incurred for 25 years, after which the railway will become state property. The construction itself is expected to be completed within five years.

Belkomur and Barentskomur

Contemporary participation of the Arkhangelsk region

Research by specialists from the Lenmorniiproekt Institute indicates that the construction of a new deep-water area of ​​the Arkhangelsk seaport in the area of ​​the Sukhoe More Bay (55 km from the existing port) can radically change the existing state of affairs. The new strategic railway will become one of the most promising from the point of view of respecting strategic interests in ensuring the economic security of the Russian Federation, for enterprises in the North-West of Russia, the Urals, Siberia and the states of Central Asia.

This is especially facilitated by the presence of the Severodvinsk municipality in the Arkhangelsk region, where the main consumers of the newly created strategic railway are located, namely:

• OJSC PA "Northern Machine-Building Enterprise"(former plant No. 402) (construction of the main nuclear-powered ships of the Russian Navy - 4th generation nuclear submarines, repair and modernization of large surface cruising ships of the Russian Navy and foreign customers (light aircraft carrier of India), construction of civil ships, construction of marine equipment for the development of offshore hydrocarbon fields, production of consumer goods);

• JSC “Zvezdochka” Ship Repair Center”(former plant No. 893) (repair and modernization of nuclear and large diesel-electric submarines, surface ships and civilian vessels, military-technical cooperation with foreign countries, technical supervision and service maintenance, mass dismantling of nuclear submarines based on unique technology that does not have analogues in the world of infrastructure for complex industrial dismantlement of nuclear submarines and surface ships with nuclear power plants of all types and designs, production of propellers of various classes and purposes for all types of ships, including for the large Arctic icebreaker fleet of the USSR and the Russian Federation (including the largest in the world nuclear icebreakers"Lenin", "Russia", "Siberia", "Arctic", "Taimyr",) and nuclear submarines of the Northern Navy of Russia, the construction of civil shipbuilding and mechanical engineering, the production of ship furniture and consumer furniture, the production of cutting diamonds into open cut diamonds at JSC CS Zvezdochka as part of a long-term conversion project for the industrial extraction of rough diamonds from the M.V. Lomonosov deposit, creating a network wholesale trade diamonds, like in Russia (Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Kostroma, Kazan, Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Severomorsk, Arkhangelsk, Severodvinsk), and abroad - in the State of Israel (Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan), USA (New York). It is planned to organize the sale of diamonds in Beijing (PRC). Zvezdochka continues a new line of activity that it opened in 2005 - the creation and development of space infrastructure in terms of manufacturing sets of technological equipment, technical and launch complexes for launch vehicles. The company manufactured launch pad structures for the universal launch complex of the Angara space rocket complex. The general customer is FSUE GKNPTs im. M. V. Khrunicheva. The launch pad is mounted at the Plesetsk cosmodrome. Currently, JSC CS Zvyozdochka is constructing a cable refueling tower, transport and installation units and other specialized equipment for the Angara launch complex).

Project financing (for 2011)

The project is carried out on the principles of public-private partnership with state support for the development of project documentation (3.7 billion rubles) and further construction of the railway from the funds of the Investment Fund of the Russian Federation [ ] (RUB 118 billion including design). The total amount expected to be invested in the project by private investors - the founders of the North-West-Prikamye MIC - is more than 479 billion rubles. Of these, about 37 billion rubles, according to calculations by the GiprotransTEI Institute, which is part of the structure of JSC Russian Railways, will be spent by JSC Russian Railways on the modernization of existing sections of the highway.

• RUB 598 billion - total investment volume for the Project.
• RUB 118 billion - requested funds from the Investment Fund of the Russian Federation, including 3.7 billion rubles. - for design.
• RUB 37 billion - the approximate amount of funds of JSC Russian Railways for the modernization of existing sections of the railway.
• 480.1 billion rubles - the total volume of private investment (80.2% of the total project cost).
• 1252 km is the total length of the highway, of which 712 km is new construction.
• RUB 3.1 trillion (at current prices) - direct macroeconomic effect for the period 2010-2018.
• 6.3 trillion rubles. - increase in the country's GDP over the forecast period in current prices.
• 482.2 billion rubles. - the amount of revenues to the consolidated budget of the Russian Federation for 10 years.
• 4.09 - budget efficiency index.
• 0.8% - the project’s share in the country’s GDP (an integral indicator of economic efficiency) for 10 years.
• 6.5 - growth of the country's GDP per unit of investment (an indicator of macroeconomic efficiency).

Participants of the complex project "Belkomur"

• OJSC "Mondi Syktyvkar LPK"- development and reconstruction ( project "Step")
• OJSC "Yarega-ruda"- construction of a mining and chemical complex.
• OJSC "Solikamskbumprom"- construction of a new technological line for the production of newsprint.
• - production of soda ash grade “A” (heavy).
• JSC "Berezniki Soda Plant"- cement production.
• OJSC "Uralkali"- increasing potassium chloride production capacity.
• LLC "Soda-chlorate"- production of chlorine and caustic potassium.
• OJSC MCC "Eurochem"- construction of a mining and processing plant for the production of potash fertilizers.
• JSC Acron- construction of a mining and processing plant at the Talitsky deposit for the production of potassium chloride.
• LLC "Yenisei"- construction of an oil and gas processing complex.
• Sosnovsky woodworking plant- construction of plywood production capacity.
• OJSC "Avisma" branch of OJSC "VSMPO-Avisma Corporation"- increasing capacity for the production of titanium products.
• JSC Russian Railways participates in the project through a comprehensive and phased reconstruction and modernization of existing sites.