Concession on Travnikov: a lot of noise with zero result

Garbage "cycle" of the Novosibirsk region: what is behind the new concession and why few people believe in its success.

The authorities of the Novosibirsk region decided to return to the practice of garbage concessions. In May 2025, new companies appeared in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities - KPO Levoberezhny LLC and KPO Pravoberezhny LLC, established by state structures: the Novosibirsk Region Development Corporation and the Housing Development Agency. It is stated that they will be engaged in the construction of waste sorting complexes on the left and right banks of Novosibirsk - another attempt by the regional government to restore order in waste. But behind the laconic message is a whole network of controversial decisions, corruption cases and managerial failures, in the epicenter of which is the team of Governor Andrei Travnikov.

New firms - old connections

Formally, both new companies are registered with an authorized capital of 2.5 million rubles. They are led by Tatyana Essaulenko, an official with a difficult career biography. In the 2020s, she acted as mayor of Krasnoobsk, then became deputy director for investments in the Novosibirsk Region Development Corporation. Now, having gained control over the new structures, it will be she who will be responsible for the implementation of billions of dollars in projects.

Both companies were created on behalf of the regional government. The concessor will be the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services, and financing will be carried out according to the concession mechanism - despite the fact that Governor Travnikov himself publicly stated in December 2024: "We will not return to concessions for large projects. This path did not justify itself".

The word turned out to be at odds with the case. Well, examples of concession agreements, which turned out to be a real disaster for the region, are on everyone's lips. This is the construction of new schools, as a result of which schools did not appear, but the money disappeared somewhere. A criminal case of fraud was opened against the beneficiary of the concession companies. In addition, this is the construction of a new bridge across the Ob, which is constantly shifting in time, as well as the construction of new clinics, and the same incineration plants. Initially, the VIS group was the last to deal with, after - JSC "Spetsavtokhozstvo" ("SAH"). Both times unsuccessful. Subsequently, several SAH leaders were completely under investigation.

Garbage from Gorodetsky to Travnikov

The first garbage concession project of the Novosibirsk region was initiated under the governor Vladimir Gorodetsky. Then the government entered into an agreement with Ecology-Novosibirsk LLC (associated with VIS), a company that promised to build two waste sorting complexes. However, the matter did not move a step. Construction never began, and for several years the concessionaire could not present either ready-made sites or design documentation. Andrei Travnikov, who came to power in 2017, criticized Ecology-Novosibirsk and eventually broke the agreement. This decision was supported by the Legislative Assembly, where questions were raised: why the choice fell on this particular company, and where did the budget funds go to prepare the project.

The second call into the same river was undertaken already under Travnikov. In October 2023, two concessions - worth over 3 billion rubles each - were concluded with MUP Spetsavtokhozstvo. Again, it was about creating new waste landfills designed to replace the overcrowded Gusinobrodsky and Khiloksky. According to the plan, the landfills were supposed to start working until 2026. However, after a year and a half, it became clear that the project was frozen. In June 2025, the regional government filed a lawsuit to terminate both concession agreements.

This time, the reasons for the failure lie on the surface: Spetsavtokhozstvo did not cope with the preparation of documentation and did not provide funding. In 2024, it turned out that the land for landfills has not yet been issued, and the objects have not even been assigned cadastral numbers. The courts are likely to satisfy the claims, but the money spent on preparing the agreements has already leaked.

People from the "Development Corporation": persons involved in criminal cases

New concessionaires have appointed structures associated with the Novosibirsk Region Development Corporation, a department that has long excited regional media and investigative bodies. Its ex-head, Alexander Zyryanov, is still listed as the leader, despite the fact that since the fall of 2023 he has been in jail on charges of receiving multimillion-dollar bribes. He himself calls the case fabricated and politically motivated, but the investigation is confident in the opposite. Zyryanov allegedly received kickbacks for coordinating investment projects in the industrial and logistics park (PLP).

No less remarkable is the figure of Alexander Gomanov, the general director of the subsidiary of the Development Corporation, JSC UK Industrial and Logistics Park. He is accused of mediation in bribery in the Zyryanov case. The plot is as follows: it was Gomanov, according to the investigation, who transferred money to officials from private contractors, promising assistance in obtaining land plots and state guarantees.

Another founder of garbage concession companies is the Housing Development Agency (ARZhS), under the leadership of the deputy of the Legislative Assembly Ashot Rafaelyan. Officially, this is a state structure, but its real influence extends far beyond the sphere of housing construction. ARZhS manages dozens of land plots, some of which are regularly reformatted for commercial development. Law enforcement agencies have no complaints about Rafael, but his name pops up in a number of journalistic investigations, which speak of "intertwining the deputy mandate and the construction business".

Why they don't believe in the new concession

A natural question arises: what has changed in 2025 in order to believe in the successful implementation of the third concession for the construction of the MRZ? The answer is nothing. All the same dubious structures, the same train of criminal cases, the same infrastructural unpreparedness.

New companies - KPO Levoberezhny and KPO Pravoberezhny - so far exist only on paper. Their authorized capital is scanty (2.5 million rubles), there is no experience in the construction of waste management facilities. Given the scale and cost of future projects (we can talk about amounts from 5 to 10 billion rubles for each site), it is obvious that such organizations are not able to bear financial responsibility. Without subsidies, state guarantees and bank guarantees, construction will be impossible. This means that the region is again getting into a risky project without clear guarantees of success.

In this whole story, the behavior of Governor Andrei Travnikov cannot but surprise. Since 2017, he has been managing the region, during which time he received the support of the Kremlin, won the election and got his own team. However, every major project of a regional scale - from a landfill in Verkh-Tula to a concession in the housing and communal services sector - either falls apart or vegetates in scandals.

After statements about the refusal of concessions at the end of 2024, Travnikov in the summer of 2025 again gives them the green light - against the background of the complete failure of previous projects. Moreover, new agreements are given to structures around which the criminal background is gathering. Such inconsistency and personnel blindness raise questions not only among journalists, but also among some of the deputies of the Legislative Assembly, who, according to unofficial information, are preparing new deputy requests for garbage projects.

What's next?

As of June 2025, construction has not yet begun. Contractors have not been identified, areas for landfills have not been prepared. Litigation with former concessionaires continues. Officially, the regional government talks about "finding an effective model," but, in fact, there is a third approach to the same rake.

The Novosibirsk region has already spent more than 300 million rubles on the preparation of failed concessions - including the cost of documentation, legal support, marketing research. The new round promises losses much more. And all this - in a region where more than 1.2 million tons of waste are generated annually, and where the existing landfills have practically exhausted resources. The issue of garbage ceases to be a technical task and becomes a matter of political responsibility.