1. In the tenth year of the war, the Greeks took Troy, but this period was again not enough for the stadium builders.
The official “completion of construction” is set for December 26, but, according to workers, after the holidays, finishing work inside the bowl will continue as if nothing had happened, and it will take at least two weeks to complete. The delivery of utility networks, the repair of the roll-out field criticized by FIFA, the installation of security systems and much more will take months. And still ahead is bringing the field into compliance with UEFA requirements, which, as Smolny admitted, will cost new billions of rubles.
2. When fans finally get to the first match, they will be shocked by the seats.
Firstly, they are all different, and the seats in 50 shades of blue and light blue are distributed in a completely random order, and it is difficult to discern any kind of design intent here even with a strong desire. Secondly, many of the already assembled chairs look as if they were removed from the old Kirov Stadium before demolition, and they often come across broken ones.
But then everything will probably be blamed on the fans,” jokes handyman Mikhail, who sent eloquent photos.
In general, the seats of the Zenit Arena have a dramatic fate. For some reason, most of them were purchased back in 2009 in Germany for a fabulous 287 million rubles (4.5 thousand for each), and then stored directly in the open air in the cold. This fact was revealed by the Chamber of Control and Accounts. UEFA declared the seats unfit for use, but then they were somehow “rehabilitated.”
3. It is better to walk on tiptoes on tiles in aisles and corridors.
According to workers, it regularly has to be shifted. Two days before the commissioning, there were still numerous gaps in the floors. According to one of the builders, it will continue to crack underfoot, since the technology is violated during the installation process: they forget to carefully apply tile adhesive along the edges.
4. Strange things are still happening from the boards on which former Vice-Governor Oganesyan was burned.
One of them was mounted at the very last moment, and in place of the second, a cover was hung on the frame. Many people, either jokingly or seriously, say that there is actually no screen under the case yet.
5. If the opening match had taken place on December 26, the stadium announcer might not have been able to shout to the fans.
The fact is that the speakers, like the seats, were decided to be installed in advance in order to meet the deadline, and, according to construction participants, since then they have become very dusty.
However, they were not tested before taking the test.
6. Plans and schedules for the production of work consistently lag behind the production of these same works.
According to the plan, work on our floor was completed on December 12, but in fact, three days before completion, nothing else was even cleaned,” one of the builders admits.
7. Construction and other waste has filled many rooms.
8. The permanent flood becomes part of the unique style of the Zenit Arena.
9. Workers still complain about delayed salaries, and providence is still deaf to their pleas.
At the office of one of the contractors, they promised 2,160 rubles for a day of work. I worked six full 12 hour shifts. We managed to get the money only the third time. The first two times I was invited, and then for some reason my name was not on the list, or they said that the organization did not have money, since the customer had not yet transferred anything to the company. In the end, instead of 12 thousand, they paid me two. The rest are promised to be issued sometime later, exactly after the New Year,” said Ruslan.
By the way, it was the mess with payments and the subsequent demarche of workers in the summer that served as one of the external reasons for changing the general contractor, but since then little has changed.
10. For one wrong move, a worker can lose one and a half months of earnings.
11. But at the facility you can improve your foreign languages well.
12. And learn to take care of yourself.
As Oscar Wilde said, a true gentleman should wash at least once a year.
13. Toilets, by the way, could also be used for other purposes.
In any case, many of them were clogged and were clearly not ready for use on the eve of commissioning.
In St. Petersburg, the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium on Krestovsky Island has been completed, which will become one of the venues for the 2017 Confederations Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Meanwhile, the commissioning of the stadium may again be postponed indefinitely.
The completion of construction work on Monday, December 26, was announced by Ekaterina Giginyak, a representative of the Metrostroy company, which is the main contractor. “In response to reports about the postponement of the stadium: construction work has been completed. The relevant documents will be signed today,” she wrote on social networks. Later, in a conversation with reporters, Giginyak clarified that the documents will be signed by 13:00 Moscow time.
Smolny has not yet commented on the completion of the stadium construction. Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Vadim Albin, who is in charge of this issue, refused to communicate with the press.
Earlier on Monday, sources in the city government told reporters that the delivery of the sports facility was once again postponed from the planned date to an indefinite period. Representatives of Rostekhnadzor, who are hosting the stadium, have complaints about the quality of the work being presented and the condition of the engineering systems. The inspectors did not want to turn a blind eye to the violations discovered.
Perhaps the reason for the dissatisfaction of the supervisory authorities was the state of the sliding roof control system. According to the regulations, it should move and move apart automatically, and not manually, as was done during testing. The contractor refuses to automate the system, saying that creating and debugging it requires additional funds and time.
According to the latest agreements between the customer and the contractor, December 26 was set as the day the arena was put into operation. However, now the exact date for the start of operation of the facility is unknown. City authorities expect this to happen before the New Year, that is, already this week. According to some reports, the signing of the stadium acceptance documents may take place on December 28 or 29.
The issue with the vibration of the roll-out field, which was discovered during the FIFA commission on October 31, still remains unresolved. The contractor promised to fix the problem after the stadium was put into operation, in February next year.
Negotiations are currently underway on how to transfer the stadium to the Zenit club. Lease and concession agreement are being considered as possible options. It is assumed that the agreement will be concluded for a period of 49 years, while the new arena will cost Zenit at a symbolic price of 1 ruble per year. In addition, he will be exempt from paying property taxes.
The club will have to maintain the arena, in particular, invest 500 million rubles in equipment and materials necessary for operation. In exchange, he will receive the rights to all income - from the sale of tickets, sublease, trade in souvenirs, paraphernalia, food, drinks, etc. The registration of rights to the Zenit Arena by the football club is scheduled for March 2017. At the same time, the first official game will take place at the stadium.
The stadium in the western part of Krestovsky Island with the working name "Zenit Arena" has been under construction since 2006. During this time, three general contractors changed at the facility, and the cost of the arena increased from 6.9 to 41 billion rubles. The completion date of construction was repeatedly postponed, which gave rise to rumors that the stadium would not be put into operation before the 2018 World Cup.
According to SPARK- Interfax", 25% "Metrostroy » belongs to the St. Petersburg Metro, 21% - to the Committee of Property Relations of St. Petersburg, 13.62% - general director company to Vadim Alexandrov, another 23.84% - to his son and deputy Nikolai Alexandrov, the rest (16.54%) - to minority shareholders. State contract with Metrostroy » will give Smolny, which is the largest shareholder of the contractor, full control over the construction and the opportunity to independently accept decisions, Nikita Kulikov, executive director of Heads Consulting, told RBC. "All this should have a positive impact on the construction budget and its timing. To speed up the pace, most likely, all subcontractors will be retained,” the expert is confident.
Problems of Metrostroy
« Metrostroy » also acted as a subcontractor for the construction of Leningrad NPP-2. Because of this project, the company had disagreements with general contractor - concern "Titan-2" - on payment, which they decide in court. In March at M Etrostroy" FSB officers conducted searches. According to the Kommersant newspaper, the service suspected the company of fraud during the construction of two branches of the St. Petersburg metro; the amount of theft, according to the newspaper’s sources, could amount to several tens of millions of dollars.
Waiting for FIFA
According to Transstroy, the former general contractor for the construction of the Zenit Arena, the stadium is 85% complete. The engineering structures of the retractable roof and the rolled-out field, as well as the electrical, heating and air conditioning systems, are not yet ready, according to the website dedicated to this stadium.
Without waiting for the conclusion of a government contract for the completion of the stadium, "about a week ago" leaders of Metrostroy “appeared at the construction site, a source in the subcontractor told RBC: “They are delving into the schedules, asking prices, studying the scope of work.” According to him, over the past month many new subcontracting companies have appeared that work on oral agreements. “Even today, Metrostroy specialists are working at the stadium to analyze the condition of all facilities and draw up an optimal work schedule,” Alexandrov confirmed to RBC.
Interlocutor close to"Transstroy" believes that "Metrostroy ", most likely, will be able to independently complete the retractable roof of the stadium. This is one of the few companies capable of completing complex engineering -technical work, he adds.
The builders are obviously in a hurry: on Wednesday, Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko told reporters that the Zenit Arena should be ready in December 2016, and in the spring of 2017 the Russian national team will play its first match at this stadium. He also said that problems with the stadium are worrying FIFA, and the inspection of the international federation plans to visit it in October.
The deadlines are “very tight,” according to Aleksandrov, but with proper organization of work, “feasible.”
Concerns about Zenit Arena are understandable. Construction of the stadium was supposed to begin in 2004, six years before Russia won the right to host the World Cup. But construction costs grew, and Smolny had to change contractors. The first contract was won by the Avant company, owned by Grigory Feldman , who then held the post General Director of Synthesis of Development "(part of the Sintez Group of Companies of ex-senator Leonid Lebedev). In 2008 " Avant “said that it did not fit into the estimate and asked to increase it from 6.9 billion to 23 billion rubles. The company had reasons for this: the implementation of the project was delayed State Expertise , and prices for building materials rose. Instead, the St. Petersburg authorities terminated the contract and held a new tender.
The new tender won " Transstroy ", which at that time belonged to Oleg's "Basic Element" Deripaska . He promised to complete the stadium for 13 billion rubles. by 2010. However, the company did not meet these deadlines, and in 2012 it was forced to abandon the work due to the fact that the approval of the new stadium project was delayed and financing stopped altogether. The company associated these events with the arrival of a new governor (in August 2011, Valentina Matvienko was replaced by Georgy Poltavchenko). The project of the Zenit Arena stadium was considered four times by the Glavgosexpertiza, and the Accounts Chamber was also interested in it. The estimate continually grew, and the completion of construction was delayed. As a result, on July 25, 2016, the contract with Transstroy was terminated due to the scandal.: Smolny did not like the fact that Transstroy does not allow control over its activities at the stadium and constantly demands increased funding.
Formally, the construction of the stadium is financed by the authorities of St. Petersburg. Initially they negotiated b participation in this projectwith several investors, Gazprom agreed to help. He did not become a direct investor in the stadium, but began transferring his structures from Moscow to St. Petersburg in order to pay taxes there, which also go towards the construction of the Zenit Arena. " Gazprom Neft moved back in 2006, now large departments of the gas monopoly are joining it. Currently, the stadium estimate remains at 39.4 billion rubles. (calculated before the last two tenders), but it may increasespeech after a positive conclusion state examination , a representative of the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg Igor told RBC Albina.
17:59 — REGNUM The authorities of St. Petersburg published a list of reasons why, eight years later, they lost patience and decided to terminate the contract with the general contractor for the construction of the stadium on Krestovsky Island. The Federation Council of the Russian Federation already fears for the image of Russia, since in this case the Zenit Arena will hardly be built in time for the Confederation Cup, which means they will not fulfill their obligations to FIFA.
Evgeniy Asmolov/ FC Zenit
The governor no longer believes
The new football arena, which will be transferred to the Zenit football club after the 2018 FIFA World Cup, was laid in the western part of Krestovsky Island back in 2007. Since then, the project estimate has repeatedly increased amid statements from regional and federal politicians that its growth has finally stopped. Thus, the project was adjusted three times: in 2008, 2010 and 2013. Each time, the cost of the arena increased from the initially estimated 6.7 billion to a possible 43.8 billion rubles. At the moment, the stadium construction estimate is 39.2 billion rubles, it is 85% ready.
Today, city authorities decided to terminate the contract with the stadium's general contractor. Transstroy received the corresponding notification last morning, just when the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko, inspecting another construction site, disappointedly announced that he no longer believed the promises of the builders after another scandal with the long-term construction of the Zenit Arena.
The head of the Transstroy company, Vitaly Lazutkin, has already stated that in the event of termination he will sue Smolny. As the correspondent was told IA REGNUM in the company's press service, a legal response to the actions of the city authorities is currently being prepared, and for now the general contractor has 10 days to eliminate the comments. Lazutkin emphasizes that such a move on the part of Smolny will negatively affect the deadline for the completion of the facility.
The city authorities, meanwhile, are confident that Transstroy will not meet the deadline in 10 days, and are determined to find a new contractor for the Zenit Arena. “Competitive events can be held using a simplified system, this will take 3 weeks,” the correspondent was told IA REGNUM in the press service of the government of St. Petersburg.
Shameful unfinished construction
The chairman of the temporary commission of the Council of Federation for the preparation and holding of the World Cup, Vadim Tyulpanov, has already announced serious image losses for Russia due to the delay in the construction of the St. Petersburg stadium, while inspecting the unfinished construction. “We will advise Governor Poltavchenko to do everything possible and impossible to complete the construction of the stadium. Because it will be a blow to Russia if the Confederation Cup match does not take place in St. Petersburg,” he said, recalling Russia’s commitments to FIFA to hold the game in the summer of 2017.
Let us recall that shortly before the decision to terminate the contract, Inzhtransstroy SPb once again asked Smolny to increase the construction estimate. According to the Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg, Igor Albin, over the past year, all the demands of the general contractor, Transstroy, boiled down to three main ideas: “we don’t have time to build the stadium on time,” “give us more money,” and “don’t control us.” In total, the St. Petersburg government has accumulated nine compelling reasons for such radical measures.
Money disappears at noon
Firstly, the company has been working at the site since 2008, but in seven years the cost of the stadium increased from 13 to 34.9 billion rubles, and this money was still not enough, the government notes. In June 2016, at the initiative of Transstroy, a decision was made to allocate an additional 4.3 billion from the budget. Also, at the request of the corporation, Smolny was forced to provide an advance payment for the facility in the amount of 2 billion rubles - that is, to pay money in advance for part of the work.
At the same time, the government received an appeal on July 12, which spoke of regression at the construction site and the absence of 4.3 billion rubles in the project’s economy. “This means that the general contractor has once again raised the issue of additional financing for the construction of the stadium. At the same time, the general contractor cannot explain the estimated deficit of 2.5 billion rubles that formed in the period before May 2015,” the city administration said about the second reason. Officials have already sent the relevant documents to law enforcement agencies.
Thirdly, throughout the entire construction period, the St. Petersburg government constantly allocated money in advance - as of July 12, unpaid advances amounted to 3.6 billion rubles. But, despite this, the contractor attracted loans worth 3.5 billion, 770 million from the stadium construction budget have already been spent on interest payments on which, and another 240 million rubles will be paid by the end of 2016.
Lagging behind schedule and lack of labor resources
The fourth reason is that in 2016 the general contractor must carry out work worth 5.5 billion rubles, but at the moment “actual completion” amounts to only 1.2 billion. Moreover, Transstroy completed only 295 million on its own, authorities note Petersburg, the rest was done by the subcontractors he hired. “The general contractor has discredited itself by not fulfilling its obligations under the government contract and delaying in every possible way the adoption of the necessary production and management decisions. The chronic lack of materials and equipment at the stadium under construction has made it impossible for subcontractors to carry out work, which, as a rule, are forced to work without money, without working documentation, without materials,” the city government emphasized.
Responding to the counter attack from Transstroy, officials name the fifth reason for terminating the contract. According to them, the changes currently being made to the project documentation do not in any way interfere with ongoing work or affect the schedule. At the same time, they emphasize in Smolny, while the mobilization of labor resources at the construction site is necessary and the number of workers in July 2016 should have been about 3 thousand people, there are no more than 1,200 workers on the site and work in a two-shift mode is not ensured. “The lag behind the schedule for certain types of work is more than three months,” summarize the city authorities.
Let us remind you that the day before Transstroy accused the administration of St. Petersburg of missing the deadline for commissioning the facility. In particular, in the absence of design solutions, the presence of unpaid work in the amount of 1 billion rubles, the lack of compensation for unprofitable work and supplies, as well as the absence of a professional operational service with an official, documented status.
The last drops
In addition, the authorities of St. Petersburg cite an eighth reason for terminating the contract - the contractor must maintain the facility before commissioning, but ignores these obligations. At the same time, the city government has created a headquarters that meets daily and controls work at the stadium. Each individual object at the stadium has its own curator. “Thus, the customer is actually replacing all the technical services of the general contractor, who does not have a single full-fledged body capable of managing the work,” Smolny says as the seventh reason.
Among other things, the city was forced to attract competent specialists from specialized organizations to help complete work on utility networks and landscaping, and also organize the supply of equipment and materials worth 3.5 billion rubles with deferred payment. However, and this is the seventh reason, the general contractor did not agree on the relevant contracts, which prevented the timely delivery and installation of equipment at the stadium worth 3 billion rubles, which was necessary to put the stadium into operation.
The last straw for the city authorities was a telegram from the chairman of the supervisory board, Oleg Deripaska, stating that he does not own the Transstroy company. “The government of St. Petersburg does not understand the composition of the shareholders and board of directors of the company performing work on such a unique, capital-intensive facility, financed at a residual value of more than 11 billion rubles from the city treasury. Being the holder of a multibillion-dollar government contract, the management of the Transstroy corporation did not find the time or opportunity to communicate with the government of St. Petersburg on the construction of the stadium,” the city authorities are outraged.
Will they scare and finish the construction?
At the same time, it is not worth changing the contractor six months before the commissioning of the project, says Vadim Tyulpanov. However, the senator is confident that the matter will not come to a real termination of the contract. “They’re just scaring each other in a good way,” he suggested.
The general contractor also states approximately this. “It is absolutely obvious to us that the decision of the customer for the construction of the stadium on Krestovsky Island to hand over a notice of termination of the contract was dictated not by the desire to help improve the situation with the construction of the stadium or to solve the accumulated problems, but by an obvious desire to force the contractor to become more accommodating,” Transstroy said about pressure from city authorities.
The company emphasized that replacing the general contractor when the facility is 85% ready makes it impossible to complete construction within 11 months. “Such inconsistent decisions by the St. Petersburg Construction Committee, as well as constantly changing conditions, the lack of agreed upon design documentation, and unresolved financing issues only mean that the stadium will not be ready to host the Confederations Cup,” Transstroy also warned.
“We need to sit down at the table once again and, breaking ourselves, tempering our pride, come to an agreement,” summarized Senator Vadim Tyulpanov, concluding today’s visit to the facility under construction.
Over the ten years during which the future Zenit stadium has been in the spotlight, this grandiose structure has migrated from the category of architectural works of art to the list of the most scandalous long-term construction projects of our time.
Today, when a new chapter in the history of the construction of the stadium opens, when the general contractor is organizing a real information war with the official authorities of St. Petersburg, we remember how it all began and what it ultimately led to. To do this, we will answer five main questions about the stadium being built on Krestovsky Island, which is popularly called the Zenit Arena.
When will construction be completed?
In 2007, when the decision was finally made to begin construction of a stadium on Krestovsky Island, Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko announced the end of 2009 as the date for commissioning of the structure.
Since then, the estimated completion date has been postponed many times for all sorts of reasons. First, the 2008 crisis struck, which led to higher construction prices, problems for the developer and a change of general contractor. Then there were endless checks and lawsuits in connection with the waste of funds. After this there was a new crisis, as a result of which the cost of construction jumped even higher. And here we are again observing the procedure for changing the contractor.
Today, the final date for completion of construction is set at the end of 2016 - beginning of 2017. This date, in any case, is the deadline, because in the summer of 2017 the stadium in St. Petersburg will become one of four that will host the traditional tournament preceding the World Cup scheduled for 2018 - the Confederations Cup.
How much does construction cost?
Initially, it was planned to spend about 6.7 billion rubles on the construction of a new stadium in St. Petersburg. At that time it was about 268 million dollars.
Already in April 2008, the cost of construction jumped first to 13-14 billion rubles, and by the end of 2008 it amounted to about 24 billion rubles. At that time, at current exchange rates, this amounted to almost $900 million.
Four years later, in October 2012, someone announced a figure of 43.8 billion rubles, which at the current exchange rate was more than 1.4 billion dollars. At this moment they started talking about how the stadium in St. Petersburg would be the most expensive sports facility on the planet.
True, since then the price tag in rubles has fallen slightly. In June 2016, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg limited the arena construction budget to 39.2 billion rubles. At the same time, the dollar exchange rate against the ruble doubled. Therefore, the final figure in foreign currency does not yet look so shocking - “only” $620 million at the current exchange rate. However, given that most of the funds were spent at a different rate, in reality the amount in dollars will look more impressive.
What is the value of the Zenit stadium in the world?
Considering the dollar exchange rate that jumped in 2014, the St. Petersburg stadium is unlikely to become the most expensive football facility in the world, but it will also not go far from the first line.
The championship was given to the legendary Wembley, which does not belong to any club. It is where the England national team plays their home matches and where the English Cup final is played. At one time, its reconstruction, more like the construction of a new arena, cost the British $1.25 billion.
Next comes the Brazilian stadium in the capital, Brasilia, which was built for the 2014 World Cup and cost the government $900 million. It is followed by another London giant - the home stadium of the Arsenal football club, which cost $750 million to build.
And so far only the fourth place among football stadiums is the arena on Krestovsky Island. As we have already approximately calculated, the cost of its construction will be about 620 million dollars, if calculated at the current exchange rate.
Who pays for the construction?
When information about the construction of a stadium on Krestovsky Island first appeared, it was planned that Gazprom would pay for its construction. Subsequently, the arena was to be transferred to the balance of the Zenit football club, which also belongs to the gas giant.
However, after some time, information appeared that the construction of the stadium would be paid for from the city budget. The construction budget immediately doubled - to 13-14 billion rubles, and later reached almost 40 billion.
It is also unknown now which organization will own the stadium after construction is completed and the 2018 FIFA World Cup ends. There were rumors that Zenit might even refuse to take responsibility for the arena, since the cost of maintaining it exceeds the income it can generate for the football club.
Why does building a stadium cost so much?
The construction of the Zenit Arena is so expensive for St. Petersburg because this arena will be one of the most technically equipped on the planet.
A standard example is a roll-out field. The stadium lawn will be able to travel outside the arena on rails so that it can be ventilated. This is necessary to create and maintain a high-quality grass surface, which is so necessary for playing football at a high level.
In addition, Zenit Arena will have a unique fire safety system. And the point here is not even how the stadium will fight fires in the premises under the stands with virtually no outside help. The most interesting thing is a robot firefighter that will be able to extinguish fires right in the stands. It will be able to automatically detect the source of a fire, be it a chair set on fire by fans or a lit firecracker. Using a directed jet of water, the robot will be able to extinguish the fire, preventing the threat.
The stadium will also be equipped with one of the best security systems on the planet, which will recognize fans, their tickets, and also display on the monitor in real time all the information about the fan that law enforcement agencies may need.
It’s probably not worth talking about the fact that the roof of the stadium on Krestovsky Island, which, by the way, is created from the latest generation of light-transmitting materials, will move and move apart to prevent bad weather from spoiling the match.
