Audit Chamber is unhappy with entangled contract schemes of "Resorts of the North Caucasus"

The Russian Audit Chamber revealed instances of unreasonably

high costs and inefficiency of the OJSC "Resorts of the North

Caucasus" (CSC), auditor Sergei Agaptsov announced today.

The Chamber has questions about the agreement with the company

"Rosengineering" for 1.1 billion rubles.  "We have thoroughly analyzed

the whole contract and realized that it is almost impossible to

understand it," Agaptsov noted, explaining that the documents had

repeatedly been reapproved and many points were corrected. "The question

is how justified is the mediation between the two companies?" he

asked, quoted by ITAR-TASS.

In addition, Sergei Agaptsov complained that the concept of the

Northern Tourist Cluster, for the development of which 277 million

rubles were allocated in 2011-2012, has been rewritten five times, but

has not yet been approved by the Russian government.

Agaptsov pointed to the overstated  costs of the project positioning

(176.4 million) and travel management  (64.8 million).

The Court of Auditors is concerned with the  legal status of land as part

of a special economic zone in the North Caucasus. "Implementation of

the commitments took place with a lag of one year. An inventory of the

property has not been performed. Unresolved issues of land use delayed

the start of work in these areas and have a negative impact on

attracting investment," Agaptsov told reporters.

In conclusion, the auditor noted that an audit of the CSC was planned,

and the results will be sent to the Federation Council, the FSB, the

Prosecutor General, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of

Economic Development. The Chamber sent a

letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, which will outline the

situation of violations of "Resorts of the North Caucasus."

"I think there is prospect of work, of course. We believe that the project

should be developed, and defects should be eliminated," Agaptsov said. He

pointed out that the Chamber has previously analyzed the activities of the

CSC in the process of checking the effectiveness of the use of funds

for the creation of special economic zones in the years 2006-2011. "We

looked at the beginning, but then drew attention to

cost-effectiveness. Then the CSC directorate promptly responded to the comments

of the Chamber and took action the auditor said.