Government Ready to Lauch Money into Roscomos
// Projects
The federal space program for 2006-2015 and a program of internal and external loans for 2006 were considered at a government meeting yesterday. It was decided to give money for space but not to get onto foreign markets. Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov also didn't forget his favorite topic – doubling GDP.
Doubling Schedule
Mikhail Fradkov opened the meeting by suggesting that members of the cabinet stretch their memories. The point here is that on July 7, State Duma deputies headed by Speaker Boris Gryzlov, demanded that Fradkov spend the 2006 budget surplus on investment projects and replacing industrial equipment in order to double GDP. The same topic was discussed on July 11 at a meeting between members of the government and Vladimir Putin, to which the deputies were also invited. Moreover, a number of disputes have already arisen over doubling GDP during the most recent meetings between Fradkov and Minister of Economic Development German Gref.
Yesterday Fradkov again started talking about macroeconomic indicators, this time peacefully. In his words, in the first six months of this year, GDP increased 5.4 percent; fixed capital investments, by 8.9 percent; industrial production, by 3.6 percent; and real incomes, by 8.1 percent. Nevertheless, he said that the objectives of doubling GDP were not being fully met, and that growth rates of consumer prices were also a cause for concern. The prime minister demanded that the Duma approach consideration of the budget with a set of clear-cut proposals aimed at ensuring doubling of the GDP and curbing inflation. In Fradkov's opinion, Gref should be involved in all of this; yesterday he instructed Gref to speed up work on the draft of a medium-term socioeconomic development program for the country and refine federal target programs. Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin was ordered to participate actively in this work without waiting for results from Gref.
The Struggle for Money
Then the floor was turned over to Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos). He reported that a draft of the new federal space program for 2006-2015 would require financing at the rate of 305 billion rubles. According to his information, there were plans to allocate 23 billion rubles to the program for 2006 (25 percent more than in 2005). This amount of financing would allow Roscosmos to complete work already begun during implementation of the old space program for 2001-2005, including assembly and launch of 18 communications, navigation, meteorological, and remote sensing satellites, as well as scientific instruments, which should be a priority in replenishing the Russian orbital group to 2008 (today, Russia's satellite group includes 96 military and civilian devices, about 60 percent of which have spent their guaranteed resources). According to Perminov, when the new satellites are put into service, Russian will be able to independently solve the problem of maintaining a single telecommunications and navigation space, providing the population with up-to-date telecommunications, carrying out meteorological observations and monitoring emergency situations, monitoring security at facilities, and organizing basic space research. The most difficult stage for Roscosmos in preparing the new space program has been the process of getting it approved in various ministries and departments. T
he agency has insisted on increasing financing of the space rocket sector to 24.42 billion rubles in 2006. At the end of March, the draft program was considered and approved by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, but the ministry refused to give final approval because of a significant increase in the funds Roscosmos was requesting. However, at yesterday's government meeting, it was Kudrin rather than Gref who started talking about a review of the financing. Kudring suggested financing some of the program's projects from a newly formed investment fund rather that through space program mechanisms. Gref, who is responsible for distributing money from this fund, didn't like the idea. According to him, only the minimum for maintaining parity of the space industry had been put in the program. Gref then proposed helping Russian companies stand on their feet so that they would get orders for at least a couple of billion rather than for $150 million. He cited the United States as an example. “The American company Lockheed Martin received $700 million from the budget, but our companies survive in any way they can.”
Where to Borrow
Kudrin reported on the results of fulfilling state internal and external loan programs for 2004 and on drafts of state internal and external loan programs for 2006. He reported that there were plans in 2006 to attract credits from foreign governments, banks, and companies amounting to $152.9 million vs. $435.6 million in 2004. Granting of guarantees against noncommercial risks will cost $83 million. The minister proposed to attract 238.2 billion rubles on the domestic market by placing government bonds for 238.2 billion rubles, which is 27 billion rubles more than in 2005. In addition, Kudrin reported that he suggested sticking to the decision already made and not taking new loans from international financial organizations but increasing them on the domestic market. Nevertheless, there will be one new loan in 2006 – a $50 million loan from the World Bank for developing the infrastructure of special economic zones. “This loan will be made with a view to using the experience of the World Bank,” the minister said.
This approach didn't suit Communications Minister Leonid Reiman. He called for borrowing from the World Bank for a program to develop the IT market. Reiman promised that fulfilling the programs would increase this market to 40 billion rubles. Kudrin proposed putting off the decision until 2007, but Reiman persisted. Fradkov made the decision himself, giving the minister of communications “several days to show its worth.” “We need to rely on our resources and minimize foreign credits,” the prime minister said, supporting the Finance Ministry's proposal and adding, “we shouldn't be naïve; we need to go through the eye of a needle.”
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How the Federal Space Program for 2001-2005 was fulfilled
What was fulfilled:
modernization of the Proton-M heavy carrier rocket and the start of operations with it, including commercial operations;
testing of the modernized Soyuz-2 medium class carrier rocket;
start of operations, including commercial operations, with the Rokot light carrier rocket;
development work in building the Angara heavy carrier rocket;
testing of the Strela light carrier rocket;
development and operation of the Fregat booster;
development and launch of the Express-M and Yamal, a new generation of telecommunications devices;
operation of the Russian section of the International Space Station.
What wasn't fulfilled:
development of the unitized Luch-M satellite for communications, relaying, and control of civilian and dual purpose devices, including piloted ships and the International Space Station ;
development of a system of Meteor-3M weather satellites (the only unit was launched in 2002; it stopped working within a year);
development and launch of the Elektro geostationary hydrometeorological satellite;
development of the Resurs-DK processing system for high-detail, multizone optoelectronic observation of Earth;
development and construction of the Sistema mini-satellite system for remote sensing of earth;
development of the Vulcan space system for effective forecasting of earthquakes;
development of the Spektr-RG space observatory to observe astrophysical objects in the x-ray and gamma ray ranges;
development of the Spektr-R radio astronomy space observatory;
development of the Spektr-UF space observatory for observing astronomical objects in the UV range of the electromagnetic spectrum;
development of the Oka-T device serviced in orbit for integrated solutions to problems in microgravity and applied engineering research;
development of a compact engineering device with a returnable capsule;
Development of the Bion-M space system to carry out basic and applied research in cosmic biology and medicine.
Petr Netreba, Ivan Safronov
All the Article in Russian as of July 15, 2005
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