“Cisco buys in to Skolkovo” (“Cisco vlozhitsya v Skolkovo”), Ekspert Online, 24 June 2010. 24 June 2010 http://www.expert.ru/news/2010/06/24/cisco/.
Announcement of Cisco’s plans to invest 1 mil. dollars in Russian technological development. Cisco will furnish its own material and intellectual capital. No mention was made regarding land capital.
Meshcherskaya, Elizabeta. “President names a head of Skolkovo” (“Prezident vozglavil Skolkovo”), Chastnii Korrespondent, 19 June 2010. 15 July 2010 http://www.chaskor.ru/article/prezident_vozglavil_skolkovo_18037.
Report on Medvedev’s formation of the management company of Skolkovo. It was also mentioned that in addition the preparatory legislation for Skolkovo’s creation, now going through the federal Duma, that plans have been made to formulate the participating investing companies’ rights to land nearer to September.
Ozerova, Marina. “Field of dreams in a country of innovators” (“Pole chudes v strane innovatorov”), Moskovskiy Komsomolets, 25366, 2 June 2010. 15 July 2010 http://www.mk.ru/economics/article/2010/06/01/502106-pole-chudes-v-strane-innovatorov.html
Summary of legislation introduced to Duma by Medvedev regarding the management organization of Skolkovo. The now state-owned lands of the new “technopolis” will be handed over into the ownership of a president-appointed “management company;” however, the company will not be allowed to sell the land, only rent it to participating investors. These investors (tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Nokia, Siemens, etc.) are expected to receive huge tax breaks and which will not be expected to pay any taxes for their first ten years of operations if certain profit levels are not met. These exemptions will also include exemptions from property and land taxes.
Binkov, Andrey and Vera Krasnova. “Dizel‘ krupnym planom,” Ekspert 21 (706), 30 May 2010, 52-61. 24 June 2010 http://dlib.eastview.com.ezproxy.middlebury.edu/browse/doc/21956586.
Highlights of the success of overhauls that OAO Avtodizel’ has made to its production and infrastructure during the economic crisis. The changes have not affected the company’s maximum production capabilities, according to Viktor Kadylkin, general director. Apart from deep cuts to salaries and manpower, the factory has also moved a portion of its manufacturing plants to a freed-up location in Yaroslavl. When added to the firm’s outsourcing of its transport services, decreased transport expenditures due to these changes have added 2 million rubles a month to the company’s live funds. Further, a significant decrease of the land area occupied by production facilities was made possible through efficacious changes and modifications made to the factory’s internal organization: new conveyor systems requiring less space, along with more compact assembly-line technologies demanding less manpower, all based on the Toyota model, have been installed. Kadylkin says these changes would only have been considered in a time of economic crisis. Decreased transportation losses enabled Avtodizel’ to lower the number of works in progress by 60% in 2009.
Stupin, Ilya. “Infrastrukturnii’ fantom,” Ekspert 34, 07 September 2009, 88-92. 25 June 2010 http://dlib.eastview.com.ezproxy.middlebury.edu/browse/doc/20586521.
Review of the problems facing infrastructure and highway building in Russia. Article highlights probable missteps of the government in focusing its attention and resources on unneeded projects. The recently created firm Rusavtodor overshadows existing motorway infrastructure construction enterprises; its legal status as an enterprise is ambiguous. Its Land Code provides terms of lease on federal and non-real land properties, which exempt the company from receiving certain permissions and allow for the conclusion of lease agreements without usual public auctions. Questions are raised as to why this state-favored enterprise has been given “less complicated” projects and land on which to work, given the fact that its capital base is capable of tackling larger problems (92).
Vasilenko, Sergey. “V edinom prostranstve,” Ekspert 23, 15 June 2009, 80-81. 25 June 2010 http://dlib.eastview.com.ezproxy.middlebury.edu/browse/doc/20220270.
An interview with Vaagn Martirosyan, general director of telecommunications firm OAO Tsentr-Telekom; discusses the differences between doing business in Tverskaya Oblast and its neighbors in the Central Federal District. Assistance from oblast administration has helped the company develop much development of telecommunications and its own business in the region. When asked about the company’s current problems, Martirosyan mentions issues of land ownership almost exclusively: after a land plot’s transfer to a new proprietor, cable lines must be used, or otherwise, use of the land through which the cables pass must be bought. Additionally, “Questions over land-use often hold up new construction.”
Terent’yev, Ilya. “Profitable spot: Land races” (“Dokhodnoe mesto: zemel’nye gonki”), Vedomosti 199 (1973), 22 October 2007. 23 July 2010 http://www.vedomosti.ru/newspaper/article.shtml?2007/10/22/134777.
Informative cataloguing of recent changes to the land market of the region up to 30 kilometers outside the Moscow ring road (MKAD), as a need for infrastructure to support growing numbers of suburban dwellers attracts commercial and industrial land buyers.
In the demand structure of the Moscow suburban land market, pre-crisis buying-up of land by speculators for cottage (individual house) construction has been replaced with developers and investors buying land zoned for industrial use, intending to launch manufacturing and building infrastructure; large retail firms and foreign logistic operators are especially active. Since the completion of new residential complexes and houses, prices on industrially-zoned lands have gone up in anticipation of developers’ seizing on the opportunity to cater to new suburban residents: 50 kilometers from the MKAD, industry land costs $9000 per 100m2, and 10 kilometers from the MKAD, it can be $30,000 to $35,000 per 100m2. These prices seem to scare foreign companies the least, as they often invest in these land with long-term plans in mind. Competition among supermarkets and commercial chains (Auchan, Perekrëstok, IKEA, etc.) is expected to increase.
Side note: French chain Auchan purchases the land used under its supermarkets. Although standard Auchan stores are 12,000-14,000 m2, the most recently opened Russian store in Petersburg was 9,000. In Petersburg, Auchon representatives say the opening of new branches is in question due to the lack of desirable land available for purchase. Additionally, the company has begun to experiment with different formats for new garden and bargain supermarket chains across Russia, the sizes of which range from 3,000 to 5,000-7,000 m2 (see http://www.bn.ru/articles/2009/10/14/49745.html and http://realty.lenta.ru/news/2009/12/11/raduga/).
Administration has little reason to block the increased purchases of land, as the population increase in the Moscow suburbs strains financial resources on the region budget for developing infrastructure. However, difficulties remain in the process of land acquisition. In the opinion of one commercial real estate specialist, those companies that have already successfully bought land in the region have less difficulty in obtaining more land for their enterprises than others; they have the necessary experience, and presumably, the capital and credit, to purchase non-agricultural land and to apply for the land’s rezoning as industrial land, taking on the risk that this back-door purchase strategy might not work. However, forecasters speculate that landlords will next year see and fill the empty hole in the supply-side of the market. Accordingly, it seems administration will be less inclined to fulfill rezoning requests of this sort, and that prices will continue to grow. Swiss cosmetics company Oriflame decided to buy a 40-hectare plot in an under-construction industrial park for 175 million euro, though investors expect a quick profit turnover once the factory begins work in 2013 (http://rus.ruvr.ru/2010/02/27/4878971.html).
“Many proprietors simply hold back their land, waiting until it becomes more expensive (i.e. private landowners holding property rights to 5-10 plots in the most in-demand areas of Moscow Oblast). This way, a tacit agreement about the regulation of the market is in effect: a limited quantity of land goes up for sale in order to not saturate the market and to preserve the deficit of liquid land.” In some cases, it is necessary to be personal acquaintances with sellers: “Sales [in these regions] carry a political character.”
Also: “Industrial lands towards Kiev Highway get expensive,” Arendator.ru: Commercial Real-Estate, 23 April 2008. 26 July 2010 http://www.arendator.ru/articles/1/art/21122/. The 30-40% growth rate of land prices along the Kiev Highway outside of Moscow went up to 58% between 2007 and 2008.
Note: This falling of prices is an interesting fulfillment of a favor, with which the RSPP came to Medvedev in 2005, asking to lower prices for industrial land (Kommersant, 46.3130, http://www.kommersant.ru/doc-y.aspx?DocsID=555248). It is conceivable that the barriers to land purchases (i.e. “political character,” etc.) are now what should be dealt with.