Arctic Yearbook 2015 | Page 44

44 Arctic Yearbook 2015 A general transfer is allocated by the federal budget to subsidize Russian regions. Financial guarantees for the pre-scheduled delivery of goods are now conducted through a fund transfer from the budgets of the Sakha Republic and Chukotka as a subsidy to authorized operators, who are selected annually in a bidding process and then perform the goods delivery to the north (Figure 11). Figure 11: Financing scheme of pre-scheduled fuel deliveries In Yakutia, the criterion for defining settlements as Arctic and northern is an inaccessibility by transport for more than 180 days a year (State Assembly (Il Tumen) of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) 2004). All operations connected with state involvement in northern delivery, referring to fuel purchase, delivery, transshipment, and storage, are performed through competitive bidding. According to statutory regulations on the placement of orders for goods and services to meet state and municipal needs, all purchases by states are made through open-bid auctions. The bidding for goods delivery is an open procedure intended to select a production supplier and to define the prices of the agreements. The multi-link and complicated conditions of delivery have been responsible for a significant fuel price increase for consumers. Today’s structure of pre-scheduled fuel delivery implies a shared responsibility for various stages of delivery among federal (timely financing), regional (purpose-oriented draft of funds, timely and full supply of northern communities with fuel), and local (fuel supply for housing and communal services) state bodies. Thus, the redistribution of responsibility and financing from the federal level (the Ministry for Economic Development) to the regional and municipal levels is evident. The major source of financing of prescheduled goods delivery is now the regional budget, while a right for guaranteed prices is granted to State Support of Delivery of Fuel & Energy Resources