The cost of the annual operation of the stadium "Samara Arena", which last Saturday ended the World Cup football matches, is estimated at 500 million rubles. This was stated by the vice-governor of the Samara region Alexander Fetisov. Adding problems is the fact that the Samara arena has become the only stadium that accepts the games of mundialya, which was never accepted by the customer - Sportinzhiniring. In the next six months, specialists of Rostekhnadzor will again work at the facility, who will make a conclusion about the readiness of the stadium. According to Kommersant's information, additional financing is needed for its completion. Where to take these funds - it is unclear: previously the federal government refused to finance the work of the general contractor PSO "Kazan", and the company itself does not have money even for settlements with subcontractors and suppliers.
The football world championship ended with the match of the teams of England and Sweden for Samara. In total, the Samara Arena hosted six matches, which were attended by almost 250 thousand fans. After the completion of the games, there were two key questions: when the stadium will be handed over to the customer and transferred to the balance of the region and how to use the arena to maximize the loading of the sports facility, ensuring its financing.
Problems at the Samara stadium began at the stage of obtaining a building permit, because due to lack of necessary documentation, the then-head of the city, Dmitry Azarov, did not issue a construction permit. In 2016, the construction was actually frozen. For the fate of the "Samara Arena" experienced, including the president of FIFA Gianni Infantino. As it became known already during the championship, because of problems with the construction of the stadium, even the question of transferring matches of the championship to the arena in Krasnodar was discussed. During the test games, Mr. Infantino expressed concern about the condition of the field in the Samara stadium. As a result, to ensure the safety of the lawn before the matches, in the training of the teams of Uruguay and Russia part of the field was closed with a special film, and the teams of Senegal and Colombia conducted their training at special training grounds near the "Samara Arena".
Now the stadium has not been put into operation yet, and neither the government of the region nor the company-customer ("Stroy-Engineering") can name the specific terms. Rostechnadzor specialists working at the Samara Arena on the eve of mundialya, revealed a number of gross violations at the site. There are serious claims to the fire-fighting system, sewerage, electricity. It is for this reason that the customer of the facility - Sportingzhiniring FSUE - refused to take the stadium from the general contractor. In addition, the arena's capacity has also decreased in a strange way. If the project envisaged 44,900 spectators, then in fact the capacity of the stadium was three thousand seats less.
Already next week at the "Samara Arena" will begin a second examination of specialists of Rostekhnadzor and profile services. It is expected that their conclusion they will endure after a month and a half. Experts do not call the total cost of completion of the stadium. Earlier sources of Kommersant, close to the general contractor, called figures from 1 to 3 billion rubles. It is known that in May of this year the general director of LLC "PSO" Kazan "" Ravil Ziganshin set before the customer the issue of allocating another 1 billion rubles. at the end of construction, which was refused. Who will act as an investor is unclear. In the PSO "Kazan", apparently, there is no money. The company has already accumulated a debt to subcontractors and suppliers for the amount of about 200 million rubles. And the debt to some partners was formed two years ago. In the PCA "Kazan" the situation is not commented and on the requests "b" is not answered.
One of those who oversaw the work at the Samara Arena was Alexander Mordovets, deputy director of the abolished Federal Agency for Special Construction (Spetsstroy). The second curator - from the government of the Samara region - was the vice-governor of the Samara region, Alexander Fetisov. Alexander Mordovets, who also headed the operational headquarters for the construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome, was detained in Moscow in late May, shortly after he left the Samara region. He held the position of coordinator of the construction of the stadium on behalf of the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation from September 2017 to April 2018. He is suspected of abuse of office. According to the investigation, he allowed unreasonable advancement of several companies that were completing various facilities at the Vostochny Space Center.
At the request of Kommersant, the government responded that the deputy governor of the Samara region, Alexander Fetisov, did not participate in the process of preparing documentation for the Samara Arena (including financial) in the construction, since the implementation of this project is not within the scope of the government Samara region.
Mr. Fetisov was in charge of the improvement of the territory adjacent to the stadium, but this work was not completed on time. If violations at the stadium were visible only to specialists, then not all the landscaped area around the stadium could be observed by all the fans. Contractors still have to finish the road construction works and carry out landscaping of the territory. Regional authorities promised to complete this work after the end of the World Cup. Earlier 2.8 billion rubles were allocated for improvement. Works were conducted before and during the World Cup.
The second key issue in the stadium is the cost of its content and how the authorities intend to recoup these costs. Judging by yesterday's statements of the Samara officials, they do not have a full understanding on this score. "We believe that the content will cost about half a billion rubles," Mr. Fetisov said.
The vice-governor of the Samara region Dmitry Azarov said that in future the stadium will be used not only for sporting purposes. "We plan to use it as actively as possible - for various business meetings, forums, symposiums, for holding cultural and mass events. Opportunities for this are - both on the site adjacent to the stadium, and in the stadium itself. We need to learn how to use these opportunities, "Mr. Azarov said.
The source of Kommersant, close to the course of construction, noted that the implementation of this strategy is still in question. "About 70% of the internal premises of the arena, intended, including for commercial purposes, are not handed over. And this also requires additional funds, "- said the source.
This problem was indirectly acknowledged by the Minister of Sports of the regional government, Dmitry Shlyakhtin. "When the new Samara stadium was designed, it was planned to include many options in the complex in order to achieve the commercial effect of using the arena. Now we do not fully understand how the "Samara Arena" will eventually be exploited. The decision will be made later, "Mr. Shlyakhtin said. According to him, the government of the Russian Federation decided to finance the 2018 World Cup stadiums within two years after the end of the championship. "Subsidies from the federal budget will be 95% of the cost of maintaining sports complexes. The remaining funds will be allocated from the regional treasury. After the final entry of the Samara stadium into operation, the arena will become the property of the region. For a two-year period, it is necessary to competently and rationally approach the promotion of the facility, "the official said.
Despite all the difficulties, the Samara "Wings of the Soviets" the first match of the new season in the Premier League against CSKA Moscow, which is scheduled for July 31, intend to hold it at the "Samara Arena". The interlocutor of Kommersant, close to the leadership of the club, considers this decision to be political. "The stadium must be brought to the mind. The field already requires replacement, but in September the election of the governor, and, apparently, the authorities do not want to spoil the impression of the Samarans from the organization of the tournament. But I do not exclude that part of the games of the Russian championship "Wings of the Soviets" will be held in the end on the old Metallurg, "he said.