'We are concerned about the change in key rate': builders ask Minnikhanov to intercede for them before Central Bank

“Minnikhanov loves construction”

There was an upbeat mood among the participants of the board of the Tatarstan Ministry of Construction in the presence of several federal industry officials. Although the professional holiday is Builder's Day in August, the Tatarstan construction industry is celebrating a special date this year — the 100th anniversary of its foundation.

On the occasion of the centennial anniversary, Nikita Stasishin, the deputy minister of construction and housing and communal services of the Russian Federation, Konstantin Tsitsin, the head of the Housing and Communal Services Reform Assistance Fund, and Sergey Pakhomov, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, came to Kazan with congratulations.

But the Russian deputy prime minister and former minister of construction of the republic, Marat Khusnullin, could not come and congratulated his colleagues in a video message. He told the audience that “Minnikhanov loves construction” and for this reason “there are always new ideas” that still need to be built. “Everything is connected with construction," he concluded, adding that Tatarstan has again become a leader in construction rates, breaking the Soviet record of 3 million square metres of housing by the end of 2020.

Kazan agglomeration in details

However, the topic of housing construction in the presentation of Minister of Construction, Architecture and Housing of the Republic of Tatarstan Marat Ayzatullin and other participants sounded in a new perspective — in the light of the development of the Kazan agglomeration. The Tatarstan authorities have repeatedly announced the preparation of the concept of creating an agglomeration around Kazan, which inevitably affects the border territories (Laishevo, Pestretsy, Zelenodolsk). As you can see, the concept is finally taking concrete shape.

“We have started working on the Kazan agglomeration: we plan to use the potential of the Laishevsky Node and Bolshoy Zelenodolsk projects," said Marat Ayzatullin.

According to him, in total, this will provide opportunities in the future for the commissioning of 10 million square metres of housing. To be more precise, it is planned to build about 4 million square metres of housing in the eastern direction from Kazan within the framework of the Laishevsky Node project, and in the western — within the framework of the project Bolshoy Zelenodolsk — 5,6 million square metres. In other words, a belt of 10 million square metres of housing is growing around Kazan. Together, they have a reserve of more than a third of the total volume of housing commissioning planned by 2030, the minister said.

15 billion for engineering infrastructure of eastern lands

“But we will be able to build such volumes in the presence of engineering infrastructure and networks," stressed Marat Ayzatullin.

According to the minister, funds have been allocated for the design of infrastructure facilities of the Laishevsky Node and Bolshoy Zelenodolsk, but first the construction will begin in the eastern direction, in Laishevo. The government commission for regional development under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Marat Khusnullin approved Tatarstan's application for loans from the Housing and Communal Services Fund.

“Thanks to the decision of the Russian government to support large infrastructure projects, 15 billion rubles have been allocated for the repayment mechanism for four projects of the Laishevsky Node," he said. “These are preferential loans of the Housing and Communal Services Fund, which were previously approved at the end of 2021.”

The head of the Ministry of Construction of the Republic of Tatarstan called for “starting their implementation as quickly as possible” so that developers could start housing construction by 2024. A pool of 15 developers, including Ak Bars Stroy, #Suvarstroit and other companies, will participate in the development of the eastern lands.

Speaking about the sources of financing of social infrastructure, he said that “large developers have taken the initiative to undertake the construction of kindergartens and schools at the expense of the investor with the involvement of the republic”. But who will act as an investor was not specified.

At the same time, he thanked the president of Tatarstan for supporting the initiative of the Ministry of Construction of the Republic of Tatarstan to create the “Institute of Spatial Development”, which will be responsible for the development of municipal territories. The State Housing Fund under the President of the Republic of Tatarstan is authorised to develop mechanisms for the integrated development of territories, he said.

#Suvarstroit takes up the development of 200 hectares

Elvira Galyautdinova, the sales and marketing director of #Suvarstroit, continued the topic. According to her, the company has a land bank of 200 hectares. It is planned to build 1,5 million square metres of housing. She called the mechanism of integrated development of territories (KRT) one of the main challenges. Currently, the construction is carried out within the framework of three residential complexes — Yuzhny Park, Stantsia Sportivnaya, Vremena Goda, where in total about 1 million square metres of housing will be built. Twenty-seven thousand people will live in this area. So far, 150 thousand square metres have been built. Half of the housing is inhabited. In addition, it is planned to build 4 schools and 13 kindergartens.

“In the future, Laishevsky Node will become a mini-city with everything you need," the representative of the company believes.

Mikhail Afanasyev, the head of the Zelenodolsk district, told about the development of the agglomeration project in the western direction. According to him, an area of almost 10 thousand hectares has been allocated, where 5,6 million square metres of housing can be built. The Bolshoy Zelenodolsk project is divided into two stages. At the first stage, 900 thousand square metres of housing will be built by 2025. These will be houses from 5 to 10 floors near the village of Novaya Tura and the village of Urnyak.

The second stage involves the construction of 4,6 million square metres of housing in the period up to 2030. The construction will be carried out near the settlements of Novo-Chuvashsky, Gruzinsky, Ilinskoye. These will be both apartment buildings and individual residential buildings.

“All listed territories have no restrictions, but not all the lands are municipal, there is a lot of work to be done with the owners, and it is already underway," Afanasyev said.

The main unsolved problem is transport accessibility. Traffic jams form daily in the morning and evening hours at the exit from Kazan. An extension of the Gorky Highway is currently being designed. Also, in terms of transport accessibility, the possibility of building railway tracks with the launch of the electric train on the route Novaya Tura-Salavat Kupere-Kazan is being worked out.

To industrial parks — to work

In addition to housing and social facilities, places of employment will be created within the boundaries of Bolshoy Zelenodolsk. They will be already existing and projected industrial parks and industrial sites.

“We see the project of the Sviyazhsk interregional multimodal logistics centre as one of the main points of economic growth of the district. This year, KazanExpress launches its first stage there. Vybor Povolzhye plant starts the work, the August-Agro company will complete the design of the elevator. We expect that about 15 thousand jobs will be created at the SMMLC (Sviyazhsk Interregional Multimodal Logistics Center — editor's note) within three years," the head of the region noted.

Besides, a project is being developed for a new industrial park with an area of 300 hectares from the village of Novonikolaevsky to the enterprise OKB Soyuz with a length of 3 km along the M7 highway. In Vasilyevo, on the territory of the former timber processing plant, the industrial park Vesna was created. There are 20 thousand square metres of premises. It is planned to create 400 jobs there. “It will be the largest employer in Vasilyevo. I note that this is a village with a difficult fate. All businesses were closed there. The president is aware of this and he has approved a separate programme for the socio-economic development of the village," Afanasyev added.

It remains only to dream of cheap money

However, the leadership of the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation fears difficulties with obtaining project financing by developers due to a sharp increase in the key rate by the Central Bank.

“We are concerned about the change in the Central Bank's key rate. When the key rate was 4,25%, the effective rate for project financing with 70% filling of escrow accounts tended to zero," said Nikita Stasishin, the deputy minister of construction of Russia.

According to him, developers will most likely no longer have the opportunity to get such “cheap money”. “Today we see that such rate is unlikely to be anymore," he said. He also added that in most regions where housing construction needs to be developed, it will be difficult for developers to get project financing.

To stop the pace of housing construction, the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation has launched a programme to subsidise low-margin projects, continues to subsidise mortgages and “finalise” the federal programme “Family Mortgage”.

However, Rustam Minnikhanov did not agree with him, offering to “defend” the interests of the industry at the upcoming commission of the State Council in March this year.

“We have been talking about this for a long time, this can be a serious blow for the construction industry and for people. For them, every half percent, every percent is important. We should raise this topic at the State Council commission, even if someone does not like it," the president of Tatarstan stressed.