German Gref: “Tatarstan has unique experience in managing megaprojects”

On September 27 delivered a speech at traditional lunch within the framework of the international investment forum “Sochi-2013”. According to Sberbank Head German Gref Tatarstan has unique experience in implementation of large projects and its experience should be adopted by the whole Russia.

The feasibility of megaprojects was discussed at lunch, where members of Russian Government, heads of Russian regions, bankers and entrepreneurs were presented.

Thus, German Gref told about successful and failed foreign megaprojects, Russian Minister of Transport Maksim Sokolov commented on Moscow – Kazan high speed railway project. According to Maksim Sokolov, the project bears some risks. However, the Minister is absolutely sure, that megaprojects being implemented in Russia will produce a multiplicative effect. Russian Minister of Finance, in his turn, stressed the need of making exact calculations when developing projects and personal responsibility for their implementation.

According to First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government Igor Shuvalov, megaprojects can bring new quality of life and such projects are being implemented in Tatartsan. “Tatarstan is a non-stop megaproject. They always have large projects and each of the projects means new quality of life for people,” Igor Shuvalov said. Universiade that was held in Kazan became one of such projects.

Tatarstan President expressed his opinion about importance of Moscow-Kazan high speed railway project implementation. According to Tatarstan President, all regional investors had a positive feedback on the decision to build the high speed railway.

Speaking about the feasibility of large expenses during implementation of megaprojects, Rustam Minnikhanov provided an example from his personal experience: “When I was the Tatarstan Minister of Finance at the end of 1990-s, we faced hard times. Kazan Mayor persuaded our first President Minitmer Shaimiev to build the underground. For me it seemed to be a failure and I was against it. I don’t know what we would have done if that decision had not been made,” Rustam Minnikhanov said.


At the same time, Tatarstan President noted that when developing Moscow-Kazan high speed railway project, expenses and technical solutions must be carefully estimated to exclude rise in the project value.

He noted that the regional leadership is already supporting the project and doing its best to build the railway with minimum costs.

“Tatarstan has unique experience in managing megaprojects and managerial potential of the region should be used in all other megaprojects,” German Gref commented on Tatarstan President’s speech.