Government approves investment programs of natural monopolies

The Russian government approved investment programs of natural monopolies for 2003, Russian Economy Minister German Gref reported to journalists after today's government meeting. Investment programs of the Gazprom gas holding will receive RUR179.7bn (about $5.64bn); additionally, the government will allocate RUR13.6bn (about $426.87m) for long-term investments in the Russian gas giant. In total, the sum will be RUR193.3bn (about $6.07bn).

In 2003, Russia's energy grid RAO UES will receive RUR23.5bn (about $737.60m), as it was previously planned. Investments in the Russian Railroad Ministry will amount to RUR126.2bn (about $3.96bn) in 2003. According to Gref, this sum includes RUR122.1bn (about $3.83bn) of its own assets and RUR4.1bn (about $128.69m) in attracted resources. The Minister pointed out that the list of facilities for investments had been coordinated; additionally, potential ways for increasing the investment activity of natural monopolies and cutting their costs were discussed in detail.