The Russian government has spent more than 4 trillion rubles ($64 billion) on some 62,600 unfinished construction projects, the country’s Audit Chamber said, according to the Business Gazeta.
The list of the uncompleted construction projects includes preschools, schools, university campuses, transport, and municipal infrastructure facilities among others, according to the audit body.
“As of the beginning of 2019, 4.048 trillion rubles of public funds have been invested in the uncompleted construction projects [including current projects],” the Accounts Chamber said in a statement.
According to the chamber, more than half of these finds – 2.9 trillion rubles – have been invested in regional construction projects.
“The largest number of uncompleted construction projects are located in the Moscow Region (worth 79.73 billion rubles) and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area (worth 70.2 billion rubles),” the statement said.
The Russian Accounts Chamber added that it was preparing a letter to President Vladimir Putin to inform him about systemic problems of the national construction industry as well as ways to solve the issues.
Тhe Audit Chamber has repeatedly raised this issue. Earlier it was reported that in 2018 the Ministry of Culture did not take effective steps to reduce the volume of unfinished construction. Compared to 2017, the volume has practically not changed, as of January 1, 2019, it amounted to more than 57 billion rubles. In total, the Ministry of Culture and its subordinate institutions have 223 unfinished projects.
