Hearings on the development of the aggregates production industry for road construction have taken place in Moscow in The Public Chamber of the RF.
As our correspondent, Alexei Nevsky, reports from the building at 7, Miusskaya square, the participants in the hearings were welcomed by Sergei Fakhretdinov, the member of the Public Chamber Commission for investment climate issues.
In particular, he stressed that, on the whole, the aim of the industry is to fulfill the assignment from the President of Russia to double the number of road construction projects and he invited the participants to discuss the problems inherent in the implementation of this task.
The suggested solutions to this problem were sometimes polar opposites. Thus, the Vice-Presidents of the “Eurasia Quarries” Association, Irina Vikulova and Ulrich Steinert, told those present in detail about a critical situation in the extractive industry, where many enterprises are on the verge of bankruptcy for a number of reasons.
In the photo: Vice-President of the “Eurasia Quarries” Association, Ulrich Steinert
Insufficient attention from the Government of Russia towards the industry, they remarked, has resulted in a sharp decrease of break stone transportation by railway, and the average cost of a ton of break stone now (the winter tariff is 485 rubles a ton and the summer tariff is 600 rubles a ton in the Moscow region) does not cover costs, so they have to increase prices for granite and basalt.
Another approach to doubling road construction was suggested by Nickolai Seregin, Chairman of the Board of JSC “RBC Avtoban”. In his report about the requirements for pricing policy and aggregates quality by contractors, he remarked that it will be very difficult to fulfil the task without decreasing prices for construction break stone.
In the photo: Chairman of Board of JSC “RBC Avtoban”, Nickolai Seregin
In summing up the hearings, a resolution was adopted in which industry representatives are to ask the RF Government to establish state regulation of the price corridor for railway transportation, to develop a special-purpose federal program including technical regulations, and to increase the working capacity of railroads in the Kareliya and Arkhangelsk regions.
Besides this, the possibility of the introduction of state regulations in aggregates construction materials for the period until 2030 was suggested. The Ministry of Trade and Industry is to create a working group for the development and amendment of the “Strategy of construction materials industry development till 2020”.