The investment portfolio of the Samara region includes more than 180 projects with a total value of about 1.2 trillion rubles. In recent years regional authorities have changed their attitude to business, and also have completely reloaded the work of regional structures that help investors to implement their projects. In the Samara region active work is carried out to develop investment infrastructure, industrial parks ope­rate and are being created. In general, according to experts, in future the Samara region can enter the top five regions in terms of investment attractiveness.

In terms of figures

According to the Ministry of economic development and investments of the Samara Region, last year investments in fixed assets in the region amounted to 259.2 billion rubles, which is 97.1% of the level of January-December, 2017, in comparable prices. According to the results of 2018, the volume of extra-budgetary investments in the economy of the Samara Region increased by 9.3% compared to the previous year. 13 new industrial enterprises were opened, 12 thousand jobs were created in 2018 in the region.

“Such high dynamics was achieved for the first time in the last five years. This suggests that investors see quite a comfortable climate in our region, that their investments have prospects. They see that the region is prepared not only to assist in implementation of investment plans and to provide state support, but also to protect the investment, making them safer for investors”, said the first vice-governor, chairman of Samara region government Viktor Kudryashov.

Big investments

Today the investment portfolio of the Samara region includes more than 180 projects with a total value of about 1.2 trillion rubles. Investors have recently implemeted several large projects in the region. So, last autumn a large agro - logistics complex was opened in Samara. It is equipped with trading places, storage, pre-sale preparation, and packaging areas, which allow even small batches of farm products to fit the requirements of large retail chains. The agro - park will be able to provide up to 12 thousand tons of simultaneous storage, the expected turnover is more than 300 thousand tons of products per year. It is planned that until 2030 revenues to the consolidated budget of the Samara region from the managing company of the agricultural park will amount to 500 million rubles, and the expected income from residents will be about 5 billion rubles. The agro-park management company has created 49 jobs, and about 1 thousand more places will be provided by residents when the facility reaches its design capacity. Today there are about 200 residents of the agricultural complex.

One of the largest investment projects implemented in the Samara region is construction of a 75 MW solar power plant. It was opened in May of this year and became the largest in the Volga Federal District and one of the two largest solar power plants in Russia. The Solar Systems company invested 9.4 billion rubles in implementation of this project, the investor also attracted financing of Sberbank in the amount of 7.4 billion rubles for its construction.

According to the Solar Systems board of directors chairman Mikhail Lisyansky, the Samara region was chosen not by chance to implement the project. “A special investment climate has been created in the region. In order to begin construction you need support of the authorities, of network companies, land, highly professional workers”, Mikhail Lisyansky explained at the station opening.

The estimated payback period of the project is 10-15 years. The peculiarity of the solar power plant is a large total area of 220 hectares and an extended perimeter of 8.7 km. At the same time, only 16 employees work at the station, 12 of them are operational personnel. Moreover, 400 jobs were created during construction of the facility. In addition, the appearance of a solar power station in the immediate vicinity of Novokuybyshevsk and Chapaevsk, cities of the Samara region, will allow lesser loading of existing thermal power plants and will positively affect the environmental situation. According to the investor, the work of the three releases of the station will reduce emissions of harmful substances by 1.4 thousand tons per year, and of greenhouse gases - by 45 thousand tons per year.

Another successful example of cooperation between government and business, implemented in the Samara region, is creation of Sberbank corporate solutions center in Togliatti, the second phase of which was opened in August this year. In total, the center has provided 1.3 thousand jobs in Togliatti, investment in the project amounted to almost 600 million rubles. The center is located in the former premises of Russia’s largest automaker AvtoVAZ, and Sberbank has made a commitment to recruit redundant employees of the auto giant in the first place.

Investors working in the field of agriculture also began to come to the Samara region. So, in August this year the region authorities and the Russian largest agricultural holding company EkoNiva agreed on construction of livestock farms in the Samara region. The investor plans to spend about 12 billion rubles on the project. All in all the company intends to build at least 3 large livestock complexes in the region with a total number of at least 10 thousand animals. Klyavlinsky district of the Samara region is being considered among the priority sites for implementation of the project, here the investor plans to begin construction already next spring.

Until the end of 2020 an investment project with a total investment of more than 4 billion rubles will be implemented on the Samara site of Danon Russia company, the Samaralakto dairy plant. Modernization of the Samara plant, which began six years ago, will be the largest investment program of Danone in Russia. According to Danone Russia general director Charlie Kapetti, at the end of the project implementation the number of produced types of products will increase almost twice, up to 110 items, milk purchases will rise by half, 36 high-tech jobs will be created. As Mr. Capetti explained, the decisive arguments in favor of investments in Samara production were the successful geographical location of the region and high qualification of the staff.

Dialogue with business

Experts recognize that the region authorities have come a long way in order to create comfortable conditions for private investors in the Samara region. “The achievements of the region in the national rating of investment climate in the RF constituent entities, which is carried out (by the Agency for strategic initiatives, ASI) since 2014, is significant. According to the results of 2019, the region position rose by 24 steps and entered the top ten of regions with the best dynamics. The most important results were achieved in the “Institutions for Business” category. In particular, they began to pay more attention to business protection measures, as well as to organization of entrepreneurship support mechanisms”, said Anna Shlapakova, Director of the evaluation department of Euroexpert Company.

Two years ago the Samara region occupied only the 65 line of the national rating. The head of the region, Dmitry Azarov, has repeatedly noted that such a position did not suit the Samara region. According to him, emphasis was placed on building a direct dialogue with business to rectify the situation. “Each meeting with business ends with execution of protocol orders, which are then firmly controlled”, Dmitry Azarov has repeatedly stated.

The Samara region Council on improving the investment climate was renewed with representatives of entrepreneurs by more than 60% . In addition, this spring the powers and the range of tasks of council members were extended. In particular, they now participate in elaboration and implementation of state policy in the field of development and support of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and also assist in improving the legal framework on SMEs, including in the field of finances and credit, tax and property policies, control and licensing practice. Another new mandate for board members is to assist in elimination of barriers for new small and medium-sized enterprises to enter the market.

The authorities of the region note that in order to make the Samara region more attractive for business they also had to restart the work of Investment promotion agency. “It is important to note that in order to make businesses feel more comfortable in the region, a “ single window ”has been created here to address the largest number of issues that businesses may have. We are talking about the non-profit organization, Investment promotion agency of the Samara region (IPA). “With the help of this structure 41 projects with a total investment of 171 billion rubles are being implemented in the region”, says Anna Shlapakova. IPA work enables to implement the national project “Small and medium enterprises and individual business support initiative” and “International cooperation and export”. In fact, due to the “single window” the business is able to get comprehensive support and assistance at all stages of work in the region”.

Developing infrastructure

In addition to the work on removal of administrative barriers, activities to develop investment infrastructure are underway in the Samara region. Two territories of priority social and economic development work in the region: Togliatti and Chapaevsk, a special economic zone (SEZ) Togliatti, industrial parks have been created and continue to be created, including in the territory of the SEZ.

For example, in the territory of the Preobrazhenka industrial park there are 12 residents who have already invested more than 5.2 billion rubles in the site, and more than 3.5 thousand jobs have been created in the factories they have opened. Since October last year, a plant for production of dry gypsum based building mixes from the international Knauf group of companies is operating in the territory of the Chapaevsk industrial park. The production of the anchor resident created 34 high-tech jobs, the amount of private investment exceeds 1.8 billion rubles.

According to Knauf managing partner Manfred Grundke, their group of companies did not have its own production in the Volga region before opening of the plant in the Samara Region. “For us this project has become a successful example of implementation of import substitution and localization of production. The regional authorities provided us with effective assistance in its implementation, thanks to which all emerging issues were resolved along a non-bureaucratic path. Effective mechanisms have been created in the Samara region that contribute to improving the investment climate in the country”, Mr Grundke said at the commencement of a new production.

As Minister of economic development and investment of the Samara Region Dmitry Bogdanov said, the industrial parks operating in the region are in high demand among investors, therefore the regional government and the Ministry of economic development are preparing additional territories in advance to accommodate new residents. One of these territories is organized in the vicinity of the village of Novosemeykino. The site is designed as an industrial park. “We have already submitted relevant applications within the framework of the national project on small and medium-sized enterprises and support of individual entrepreneurship initiatives. In the coming year we expect to carry out all the necessary work to prepare in advance for investment demand in our region that is increasing every day”, added Bogdanov.

To become a leader

According to experts, the Samara region still has work to do in terms of improving the investment climate. So, according to Anna Shlapakova, entrepreneurs note that the most difficult thing in a dialogue with the authorities of the Samara region is paperwork for obtaining building permits. “There is still a lot of bureaucracy, which hinders the attraction of investments in the region. In general, the dynamics is positive and, most importantly, the authorities notice feedback and are ready to work on eliminating the causes of the negative”, the expert said.

Indeed, according to the Samara region government data, the region experienced a decline of 10 indicators in that very national ranking. Moreover, the largest was in terms of effectiveness of procedures for issuing construction permits. “We have not reached the ideal here. Entrepreneurs should feel the changes, that it has become easier to obtain a building permit, it has become simpler to connect to utility networks. This is what we must provide”, said Viktor Kudryashov.

According to him, the positions that the Samara region holds today in the national ranking, despite the fact that the region showed one of the highest dynamics in the country, do not satisfy the authorities. “We should be in the top ten, and even better, in the top three regions of the country. Therefore, together with public organizations that represent the interests of entrepreneurs, with investors who have already gone a certain way to obtain building permits, we identify factors that still hinder the increase in investment activity, that hamper decision - making on investing in the region’s economy, and we are planning measures to eliminate these factors”, said the first vice governor.

Anna Shlapakova reminds that, according to the results of the last year, a total of 175 investment projects were included in the investment portfolio of the Samara Region, 31 of them were included in the list of strategic ones. “In order to become one of the three leaders in the national rating of investment attractiveness this is not enough, of course, and the region needs to focus more on further work with small and medium enterprises, as well as to continue to develop attracting investors in the territory of advanced social and economic development and in special economic zone”, said Ms. Shlapakova. In general, according to experts, in future the Samara region should be among the five best regions in terms of investment attractiveness.

Marina Sergeyeva