I. Metshin: “We need entrepreneurs to feel themselves partners, not the fifth wheel”

(KZN.RU, July 5, Anton Nozdrin). Today, Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan, conducted a working meeting on the introduction of a new scheme for placing relocatable trade facilities (RTFs) in the city with the participation of entrepreneurs. The Mayor instructed to prepare an application for the abolition of the right restriction to place an object without bidding. This document gives it to honest entrepreneurs who have a delay in payment of rent for no more than 2 months. The Mayor believes that it should be enough not to have a delay at the time of the conclusion of the contract.

The Mayor thanked the participants for their joint work for a long time and noted that it takes place in a joint dialogue.

Ruslan Zainetdinov, the chairman of the Committee of the Consumer Market, said that the new scheme includes 895 spots for 17 types of activity. It was assumed that the right to place more than 500 objects will be put up for auction. And entrepreneurs will claim the remaining 363 places on the basis of existing lease agreements until March 2015, so they will have a certain advantage. In order to acquire the right to locate an object without bidding for the initial price, they were required to fulfill the terms of the contracts honestly. That is, they didn’t have a delay more than 2 consecutive months throughout the term of the contract. However, it became clear that only 80 objects meet this criterion.

Ilsur Metshin was surprised at this ratio. “Only 10% of the owners pay their rent on time”, said the Mayor of Kazan and asked businessmen what prevented them from paying the rent in due time.

According to Anastasia Shevchenko, the entrepreneur, she learned that she is an unscrupulous payer only when it is time to conclude an agreement. “We are faced with the fact that an amendment to the law, which determines whether you are an honest businessman or not, excludes practically all of us from the good list”, she noted on behalf of the gathered representatives of small business. Almost every entrepreneur has delays in payment of rent for more than 2 months.

The head of the city asked how exactly debts had been formed.

As it turned out, entrepreneurs pay rent immediately for the year ahead. “But when we arrived in 2013, for example, we learned that the tariff increased last year. We were billed, we paid for them, but arrears have already been formed because of the increase in tariffs”, explained A. Shevchenko.

There were no notifications of the increase in tariffs. A. Shevchenko proposed to create an electronic private office in the future, where entrepreneurs could monitor their debts and the balance.

I. Metshin asked for explanations to Renat Galyautdinov, the chairman of the Committee for Land and Property Relations, and the heads of administrations. The Mayor marked that it is important to establish a mutually beneficial and comfortable business environment for working with entrepreneurs.

Ilsur Metshin promised that an appeal would be prepared to amend the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the RT in order to correct the wording of the integrity of entrepreneurs.

Another problem was shared with the Mayor of Kazan by Evgeny Iosipov, the deputy chairman of the Guild of Small and Medium Enterprises of the city. According to him, at the conclusion of the lease agreement, the amount for the entire fifth year of the lease is to be paid in addition to fees for the first quarter. And sometimes, it is heavy money for entrepreneurs. The head of the city ordered to work out this issue and change the terms of the lease agreements. Also, the participants of the meeting discussed the mechanisms, by which it would be possible to cut off dishonest businessmen from participation in the bidding.

One of the entrepreneurs noted that the payment for a square meter of a commercial object can grow depending on the area and location of the kiosk. R. Galyautdinov explained that the fee per square meter is determined by independent appraisers. This is a requirement of the federal legislator.

At the end of the roundtable, I. Metshin thanked everyone for the productive dialogue and asked to address him directly in case of any difficulties in the work. In conclusion, the Mayor instructed Damir Fattakhov, the first deputy head of the Executive Committee, to collect all the proposals received and take them into account in their future work.

In turn, entrepreneurs also appreciated the proposed format of communication and offered to hold such roundtables on a regular basis.

Businessmen thanked the city leadership for the proposed solutions. “Ilsur Metshin again proved that he meets the needs of the entrepreneurs, and is ready to solve all the problems in the dialogue. And I hope that soon a document will be issued that will allow us to conclude contracts, work further, and develop”, A. Shevchenko summed up the results of the meeting.