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Making developer’s life easier

11.05.2016

Ministry of Construction has developed lists of procedures for construction of utility networks.

According to the deputy minister of construction industry, housing and utilities sector of the Russian Federation, Natalia Antipina, the Ministry has developed two exhaustive lists of administrative procedures for construction of electrical networks, as well as water supply and sewage networks. Both lists are sent for approval to the federal authorities.

“We are ready to discuss the developed documents. One of the lists concerns power supply facilities of voltage level less than 35 kV, and the second list includes water supply and sewage networks. The business community has to speak out on this issue,” said the deputy minister.

Developers no longer need to apply to a number of government agencies in order to get an approval on project decisions and design of surroundings.

Tikova Tatiana Vice-President for Strategy and Asset Management, PSN Group

However, participants of the market have not seen them yet. “We have not received documents,” said a representative of the press service of the Russian Association of Water Supply and Sewage Networks. “But as soon as we get it, we will surely give your opinion on it”.

Developing these lists is part of a set of measures, which are designed to improve the legal regulation of city-planning activities and improve the business climate in construction industry. According to the words of Andrey Shirokov, chairman of the Committee on entrepreneurship in the field of housing and utility services, the developed by the Ministry of Construction lists of procedures for construction of power and water supply networks “refer to public utilities and regulate these issues at the municipal level.” These lists will help investors and developers to solve many problems faster, ranging from those that are connected with land easements and ending with obtaining construction permits for infrastructure facilities.

“Developing these lists, the Ministry carries out the government instructions to reduce the number of approvals in construction sector, also expressed in the Presidential Decree #600. The lists have been submitted for approval to the regional level. Giving a speech on the next State Council Meeting the Minister of Housing will report on the work to reduce the number of administrative barriers carried out by the Ministry,” said the expert.

Reduction of administrative procedures allows developers to predict the timing of their project implementation with high accuracy

Volkov Dmitry Public official of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives in Moscow

To his opinion, the issue of reducing administrative barriers “is very important for business.” Reducing the number of approvals and permits and transferring documents to electronic format will allow finishing construction works much faster and therefore it will speed up the turnover of investor’s funds.

“Any tariff includes an investment component. Simplification of procedures will make power supply and sewage systems more interesting for business, as the term of return on investment will be reduced. Obtaining all necessary approvals takes up to one year before the start of construction works, though this term should amount to no more than a couple of months,” concluded Andrei Shirokov.

Stroitelnaya Gazeta