Krasnoyarsk Metro Contractor May Close as Leasing Equipment Seized
A leasing company is demanding the return of equipment from one of the subcontractors in the chain of builders for the Krasnoyarsk metro tram. The promised money never reached the workers, the entrepreneur himself told NGS24.RU, asking not to be named. He is considering closing his business.
The entrepreneur is a contractor for the company TD Angara, whose drivers held a strike action on Revolution Square on December 26. His company, for example, transported soil from metro construction sites, while Angara handled loading and disposal.
On the same day in December, the general contractor, the company Mosproekt-3, stated that it had transferred money to its subcontractor group BTS-Most. However, the money still hasn«t reached the other subcontractors in the chain, the entrepreneur claims. According to the carrier, the BTS-Most group explained to them that the money received was insufficient and not enough to pay the contractors. At the end of December, the prosecutor»s office reported that 47 workers of Angara and individual entrepreneurs had been paid, but only for a sum of 1.2 million rubles (about $16,000 at current rates).
His company is owed 18 million rubles (about $240,000 at current rates) since September, and Angara is owed 45 million rubles (about $600,000 at current rates). He himself currently owes workers and counterparties 11.5 million rubles (about $153,300 at current rates).
The entrepreneur estimates his monthly expenses on diesel, oil, vehicle maintenance, and other things at five million rubles (about $66,700 at current rates). That is, his maximum debt was 25-30 million rubles (about $333,000 to $400,000 at current rates). To settle it, the businessman took out loans.
For the metro work, the entrepreneur leased equipment. The penalty for it is 300 thousand rubles (about $4,000 at current rates) per month. Now the lessor is demanding the return of the equipment — nine trucks and three cars.
«I have 10 trucks in total. If I don«t pay the leasing, then [almost all] the equipment will be taken from me in the coming days. And the only option I»ll have is to close the business,» he told NGS24.RU.
The entrepreneur added that since the end of last year, contractors have been given empty promises.
«First they said they would settle by the end of the year,» the entrepreneur said. «Then they promised to pay by January 20, and last week — by January 25. Now the promises have been moved to «this week,» but again, money from the treasury takes three days to withdraw. So even if they pay today, we won«t see the money this week. Well, I highly doubt that anyone will transfer anything to us.»
After the December strike, the head of TD Angara was issued a warning by the prosecutor«s office. After an inspection, an administrative case will also be initiated against him for non-payment of wages, the press service of the department reported. A source close to the company told NGS24.RU that the prosecutor»s office «has taken control of absolutely all transfers from Mosproekt.» According to him, the transferred money will reach the workers «at best in mid- to late January.»
The client of the works — the Center for Transport Logistics — stated that it pays the general contractor for all works on time. A representative of BTS-Krasnoyarsk, Vladimir Fedorov, explained to journalists on December 26 that the company lacks «a certain part of the project documentation» and, as a result, «there is no work front.» In mid-December the company itself complained about payment delays.
