Do they want to sell Sevmorport to Rostec at a cheap price?
Deputies of the Legislative Assembly of Sevastopol expressed bewilderment at the plans of the city government to privatize the Sevastopol seaport at a time when the enterprise is idle, waiting for the start of operation of the Crimean Bridge railway line.
“Today it is impossible to get a real price for a port that does not actually operate. When the railway lines are connected to it, when the railway part of the Crimean Bridge is operational, then the port can develop, and big money can be obtained for it. Now it is inappropriate to privatize,” said deputy Viktor Posmetny.
Vice Speaker Alexander Kulagin expressed concerns that a private owner may refuse to maintain Portoflot, which carries out passenger transportation in the Sevastopol Bay.
“This state unitary enterprise has passenger boats and ferries on its balance sheet. We already had a story when a private owner refused to transport people. It was necessary to urgently make a decision and buy these ferries. We know very well the economics of these transportations, so it is not a fact that the new owner will not change his policy in this regard,” Kulagin said.
Speaker Ekaterina Altabaeva asked how the government plans to privatize berths and coastal protection structures if this is prohibited by federal law, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“We are not talking about the direct privatization of property included in the authorized capital of these enterprises. The restrictions imposed by federal legislation will be taken into account by the government when discussing the terms of privatization. In addition to the berths, there are other objects there that can be privatized,” answered the acting director. Department of Property and Land Relations Konstantin Zimin.
However, in the end, deputies rejected the forecast plan for the privatization of state property for 2019-2021, proposed by the government of Sevastopol.
Let us recall that under Ukraine there were two ports in Sevastopol: a sea trade port in Sevastopol Bay and Rybny in Kamyshovaya Bay. In 2014, they were merged into one state enterprise, Sevastopol Sea Port.
Last spring, the government of Sevastopol exempted the port from paying 70% of the profits received in 2017-2018. And in the summer, the governor of Sevastopol, Dmitry Ovsyannikov, announced that the Sevastopol Sea Port was leasing berths and equipment in Kamyshovaya Bay to the RT-Logistics company, part of the Rostec corporation, which plans to organize the transshipment of special-purpose cargo.
In 2017, the port used only 7% of cargo transshipment capacity. With a total capacity of shipping 4,5 thousand tons per year, the volumes amounted to only 315 tons.
English version :: Read in English: Are they planning to sell Sevmorport to Rostec on the cheap?