Reftinsky is getting ready to change its leader. A strategic project worth 700 million is at risk.

There are plans to invest in the state district power station and the poultry farm. The project to reconstruct treatment facilities, which is crucial for the settlement, is increasing in cost. The initially terminated contract of 540 million has already been revalued to 704 million, and it is expected to grow to 900 million rubles in the future. Meanwhile, the business is only investing tens of millions in the project, which is mainly focused on additional wastewater treatment, while also declaring large-scale development plans for Reftinskaya Poultry Farm. The municipality, whose budget is comparable to the construction cost, is hoping for federal and regional funding. To secure this funding, the city needs strong advocates, and the local Duma deputies are emphasizing careful control over fund expenditure.

At the same time, its full-fledged organization is in doubt – the Duma and the mayor’s office are consistently in conflict, and several deputies are hinting at the head's resignation in various ways. However, the opposition's strength has somewhat diminished with the departure of several parliamentarians from the Duma and the intervention of the prosecutor’s office. The overall tension in the representative body, which will need to approve budget adjustments upon receiving funds, remains, and supporters of the city administration are preparing for the next stage of confrontation.

Reftinsky’s Duma adhered to the presentation of the Asbest prosecutor’s office, which demanded the resignation of deputy Yegor Perminov, who was found guilty of violating driving laws while intoxicated and subject to administrative punishment or having a criminal record. It is worth noting that the verdict was handed down on October 26, 2021, and the prosecutor’s office received a submission at the end of December 2022. The deputy himself did not inform the Duma about the misconduct and actively participated in meetings over the last year and a half. Meanwhile, another deputy, Artem Gusev, left the Duma.Alexander Pasynkov resigned.

The government acknowledges that there are outstanding payments, but wants to highlight that they are not overdue, and MUPs are guaranteed. Additionally, most Sverdlovsk municipalities are dealing with a lack of funds, and Reftinsky, despite having unpaid creditors, is not among the top ten in this regard, according to officials from the Legislative Assembly of the region.

The Duma speaker expressed his opinion on evaluating the head's activities in 2022, but it had little impact on the vote result. According to the chairman, the opposition group at that time disintegrated under the influence of the city's main enterprise – the deputies at the Reftinskaya GRES refused to criticize the head, and the party's regional department influenced A Just Russia's representatives.

In December 2022, Alexander Pasynkov made a second attempt to change the balance of power in the municipality by proposing to the City Duma to modify the process of forming a competition commission to select the head. Specifically, he suggested that the commission's chair should only be elected from the Duma deputies with the decisive vote. Similar attempts were made in Beloyarsky and Malyshev during leadership changes, but they faced opposition from the prosecutor’s office. Reftinsky had a similar response from the prosecutors.

In the regional Duma, Pasynkov's efforts to replace the current mayor, who is not criticized by the regional authorities, were linked to the speaker's plans to take a leadership position in the municipality. He made attempts to be elected in 2015 and 2020.

The agreement for the construction of treatment facilities was made in June 2022 with City Building LLC. The initial price of 540 million announced at the auction quickly rose to 550 million. The contractor, Reftinskaya Poultry Farm, is due to complete the work by the end of 2023. However, only 2% of the work was completed in the first six months.

Pasynkov claims that the initial reconstruction project was poorly planned, which now needs to be completely redone. City Building agrees with this criticism and is currently working on a new document, while the existing treatment plant Reftinskoye MUOP is operational.

However, the stated 704 million rubles is not the final cost of a large construction project. As Vitaly Chachin, director of City Building, explains that due to the sanctions, foreign equipment included in the project had to be abandoned, and alternatives are now being chosen.

At the MU OP “Reftinskoye,” they are willing to pay for the work in stages, but the acts of the Constitutional Court will only be signed in 2023. While the contractor is working, they are mainly relying on the 160 million rubles received as an advance payment. It's important to note that initially, most of the project is funded from the federal budget, with 480 out of 550 million rubles planned to come from it, 34.5 million from the regional treasury, and 5.3 million from the municipal treasury. Additionally, 28.5 million rubles were pledged from “Reftinskaya GRES”. As the project's cost increases to 704 million, they expect additional revenues from the federal budget. After the re-evaluation of the project, significant adjustments and additional efforts to secure funds from both federal and regional sources will be necessary. It's possible that the Reftinskaya poultry farm, 49% of whose shares were sold to Rashid Sardarov’s YuUPK LLC in May 2022, will also be asked to increase its share.

Currently, the poultry farm, under the control of the Ural Agro-Industrial Group, is officially only discussing the allocation of 20 million, which were initially agreed upon.

Sources in the Legislative Assembly of the region familiar with the project, mentioned that the required funds for the construction are reserved in the Sverdlovsk budget. However, their transfer to the MUOP will require adjustments to the local budget, depending on the positions of the City Duma deputies.