OLEG KORNEEV: CONCESSIONS SHOULD BE WIDELY USED

Changes to the law on concessions will enable their mainstream use

Head of FAS Department for Control over Construction and Natural Resources, Oleg Korneev, took part in a meeting of the Committee of the Russian Federation on Economic Policy that discussed public private partnership as a tool to solve important social-and-economic tasks.

He pointed out that FAS finds concessions to be an efficient tool for attracting investments, employing which entrepreneurs can solve tasks with the maximum efficiency using their business skills.

Currently, however, the law on concessions does not allow to mainstream use of concessions.

There is no clear, legislatively formalized procedure for choosing concessioners, and administrative criteria for selecting concessioners, competitive bidding takes place in the form of tenders “on paper”, and there is no delineation of the law on concessions and the law on a contractual system. All this forms a “favourable” environment for collusion and choosing the “right” concessioner. The above shortcomings result in a high risk of appeal, mistrust of business, potential liability of government officials and, as a consequence, fear to mainstream concessions.

“We see good results of the concessions concluded upon particular acts of the Russian Government that set special regulation. They establish clear rules of the game, understandable to both the state and business. In this context,  setting administered criteria for selecting concessioners, electronic competitive bidding organized through a closed list of e-sites, legislative delineation of the law on concessions and the law on contractual system will help mainstream successful concession practices”, said Oleg Korneev.