Практика концессионных соглашений в секторе водопроводно-канализационного хозяйства российских городов

Городские исследования и практики. 2025. Т. 10. № 2. С. 67–83.

Sivaev S., Abdullaev A.

This study examines concession agreements in water supply and wastewater sector within municipalities of the Russian Federation.

Its objectives are to conduct a substantive and statistical analysis of these agreements, identify barriers to private investment in the public utilities sector, and develop proposals for improving the state regulation of public-private partnerships (PPP) to enhance the sector’s investment attractiveness.

The research analyzes 353 concession agreements across 12 Russian regions and further examines agreements in 20 major Russian cities, providing a systematic overview of the country’s experience from 2011 to 2023.

The findings show that the concession agreements can be categorized into three groups according to the length of their implementation:: (a) agreements with terms up to 10 years, which were often concluded to increase concession statistics in smaller settlements and lack investment potential; (b) agreements with terms of 10–25 years, accounting for 51% of the total. This group could foster the growth of major players in the water and sanitation market if legal measures are taken to reduce investment risks; (c) agreements with terms of 25–50 years. These contain the vast majority (approx. 90%) of pledged private investment, but most of this investment is projected for 20 to 30 years in the future. Such agreements are typically found in large Russian cities and indicate the privatization water management in Russian cities.

Based on this analysis, the article provides recommendations for improving legislation governing concession agreements in the public utilities sector.

Keywords: концессионное соглашение, государственно-частное партнерство, коммунальная инфраструктура, concession agreement, водоснабжение, жилищно-коммунальное хозяйство, водоотведение, water supply, housing and communal services, sanitation, public-private partnership, communal infrastructure