Russian Highways State Company together with the Gazprombank Leasing Group held a meeting on the implementation of the program for the purchase of road construction equipment manufactured by Russian and foreign companies shortly before the proactive construction season. The operator of this program is Russian Highways Leasing LLC.
The event was attended by First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Russian Highways State Company Igor Koval, Deputy Head of the Federal Highway Agency (Rosavtodor) Oleg Stupnikov, Vice President of Bank GPB (JSC), General Director of the Gazprombank Leasing Group Maxim Kalinkin, General Director of Russian Highways Leasing LLC Maxim Eliseev, and representatives of about 30 construction companies, key contractors of Russian Highways State Company.
The meeting discussed the issues of preferential leasing of road construction equipment manufactured by foreign companies in accordance with Decree No. 895 dated 18.05.2022 of the Government of the Russian Federation and subsidizing of the advance in the amount of up to 15% of the equipment cost in accordance with Decree No. 811 dated 03.06.2020 of the Government of the Russian Federation. Among the key topics was the discussion of subsidizing interest payments for credit funds to the leasing company for the purchase of Belarusian equipment in the amount of 2/3 of the key rate of the Bank of Russia.
Currently, the total need for road construction machinery and equipment is 30,444 units, among them are 16,445 units (54%) manufactured by Russian companies, and 13,999 units (46%) manufactured by foreign companies.
Russian Highways Leasing, a specialized leasing company, was created jointly with the Gazprombank Leasing Group with the support of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade to maintain the pace of road construction and upgrade the fleet of road construction and special purpose equipment.
Several decrees of the Russian Government have been issued, providing for special conditions for lending to Russian Highways Leasing in terms of establishing an individual amount of the subsidized loan of up to 120 billion rubles and a subsidizing period of up to 3 years, with the possibility of a loan drawdown deadline of up to June 1, 2025.
This mechanism will ensure leasing of 7,000 units of equipment including items that have no Russian analogues at a preferential rate (from 6.75% at the current rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation) during the approved five-year plan.
Russian Highways Leasing joined the program of preferential leasing of domestic equipment, provided for by Decree No. 811 of the Government of the Russian Federation in order to support domestic manufacturers of road construction equipment. For 2023, a subsidy limit of 51.3 million rubles has been fixed, which will ensure the supply of equipment worth up to 500 million rubles.
The key advantages of leasing foreign road construction equipment were presented, including an initial payment of 0%, a preferential leasing rate (at the current rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation) from 6.75%, as well as the possibility of paying for equipment, its transportation and customs clearance.
Today, preliminary applications have been received from road construction companies to finance the purchase of 1,009 units of equipment manufactured by Russian and foreign companies under preferential leasing programs (Governmental Decrees No. 895 and No. 811) with a total value of more than 13.9 billion rubles.
In addition, in May/June of the current year, together with the Ministry of Industry of the Republic of Belarus, we are ready to offer preferential leasing terms for road construction and special purpose equipment manufactured by Belarusian companies, with subsidized lease payments in the amount of 2/3 of the key rate of the Bank of Russia (= 5% as of today).
