The Investment Council under the Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region is a consultative and advisory body operating under the head of the region, reviewing investors' applications for the implementation of large-scale projects on the region's territory. The Council has functioned since at least 1993 and was particularly active during the 2000s–2010s, during Valery Shantsev.[3]

History and Composition

The earliest references to the Investment Council date to the early 1990s: from 1993, its member was banker Boris Brevnou, who simultaneously served as chairman of the council's banking committee.[3] At that time, under Nemtsov, the council operated in parallel with the Council for Industry. Its membership included representatives of the banking sector, industry, and the regional government.

With Valery Shantsev's arrival as governor in 2005, the Investment Council became a regular platform for presenting and giving preliminary approval to investment projects. Sessions were reportedly held approximately once every two weeks. In particular, at the meeting of May 23, 2007, a project to build a paid passenger cable car between Gorky Square and Moscow Railway Station, proposed by LLC "VAK-TA" with a declared investment volume of 620 million rubles, was reviewed; consideration was postponed due to a conflict with the approach roads to the Metro Bridge.[1] At the meeting of March 30, 2010, the application of LLC SP "Zarya" for the construction of an aquaculture complex for sturgeon farming in Borsky District, covering 2,000 sq. m, was approved. At the meeting of October 21, 2010, the council approved the request of Mikhalkov to reclassify a plot of land within the boundaries of the village of Shchepachikha in Pavlovsky District from the category of agricultural land to the category of residential settlement land: a plot of 54,000 sq. m for individual residential construction, and a plot of 83.76 sq. m for recreational use; both plots were owned by Mikhalkov; the decision was announced by Dmitry Svatkovsky.[1][2]

Powers and Criticism

During Shantsev's governorship, the distribution of land plots for development in Nizhny Novgorod passed through the Investment Council. In particular, construction company SU-155 received through the council plots in Kuznechikha (the "Bely Gorod" residential quarter) and on Ukrainskaya Street near the Leninskaya metro station. Critics pointed out that a significant portion of the large-scale projects approved by the council and widely covered in the press were never actually realized. On October 18, 2013, the council approved an application for the construction of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation's main settlement and cash center on the territory of the Ankundinovka IT Park; the investment volume amounted to 1.8 billion rubles, with financing provided entirely by the Central Bank; plans called for erecting a building with a total area of 10,000 sq. m, more than five stories tall, and creating over 300 jobs. In 2016, the council approved the allocation to the Central Bank of Russia of a 38-hectare land plot for indefinite use for the construction of an administrative building for the Volga-Vyatka Main Branch on Soviet District of Nizhny Novgorod.[3][2]

From May 2017, matters related to the work of the Investment Council under the Governor were overseen within the Ministry of Investment, Land, and Property Relations of Nizhny Novgorod Region by Deputy Minister Alexander Kononov.[4]

Sources

  1. Kommersant (Volga Region) — At the meeting of October 21, 2010, the council approved the request of film director Nikita Mikhalkov to reclassify a land plot within the boundaries of the village of Shchepachikha in Pavlovsky District (archive)
  2. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — On October 18, 2013, the council approved an application for the construction of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation's main settlement and cash center on the territory of the Ankundinovka IT Park; investment volume (archive)
  3. V Gorode N — In 2016, the council approved the allocation to the Central Bank of Russia of a 38-hectare land plot for indefinite use for the construction of an administrative (archive)
  4. Vremya N — From May 2017, matters related to the work of the Investment Council under the Governor, within the Ministry of Investment, Land, and Property Relations of Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
Materials from the following articles were used (5)

String Transport, A fish farm complex for sturgeon farming, Brevnou, Shantsev's Fairy Tales, SU-155 Equity Holders