At 38, Ossinovski, CEO of Spacecom railway transportation company, which is 70 percent owned by Russia's Severstaltrans, 10 percent by Ossinovski's Skinest Projekt and the rest by private investors, has become one of the most influential figures in the field, after state regulations liberalized the railway transportation market in Estonia. Together Spacecom and Skinest, working within the infrastructure of Estonian Railways, have snapped up about 20 percent of the railway transportation market.
What are your expectations regarding the court dispute with Estonian Railways? What infrastructure fee would be acceptable for your company?
Without a doubt Spacecom is sure that it is right, but in a democratic state it's the court that makes the final decision. So let's not put the carriage before the horse. We hope that through the court dispute we'll get a justified infrastructure fee. It should be of the same magnitude as established for other clients of Estonian Railways 's from 2 kroons [0.13 euros] to 6 kroons per ton 's and which Spacecom currently pays to Estonian Railways, too.
What are the investment and development plans for the Daugavpils Locomotive Repair Center?
The owners of the repair center have already invested over $3 million into the facility in the last six months. Altogether about $10 million will be invested. The owners have applied for financial support from two EU structural funds in order to rebuild the repair center.
The process of modernization is being carried out, and its completion date will depend upon financing. The facility is working at full capacity. The year 2005 is covered with contracts by 100 percent, and some even had to be rejected due to the high workload. At the same time the personnel optimization has been completed.
We plan to double turnover for the repair center in 2005. Several new projects are underway. For example, the facility has repaired locomotives it had not dealt with earlier.
The railcar depot in Tallinn's suburban town of Maardu 's how is this project developing?
The Maardu railcar depot will receive a total of 300 million kroons in investments. There will be 30 people employed, and the facility will be capable of repairing 6,000 railcars per year. The project is frozen today though, because the court demanded 83 million kroons as a deposit for the dispute with Estonian Railways, which otherwise would have been spent on the depot project. So we have to wait for the court decision and get money from the deposit to carry on with the project.
What do you think of concerns raised by Estonian politicians and businesspeople regarding the participation of Russian capital in Estonia's transit sector? Do you think the close connection between Russian businesses and Moscow power structures pose a threat to Estonia?
I continue to maintain the position that Russian investments as product owners in Estonia are the best insurance and guarantee for the sustainable development of the transit sector. The problem is that while investors from other countries bring their money into the sector to make a profit, Russian capital is rather interested in securing a reliable transit corridor for the products they own.
A Russian company makes its profit from selling products. It is the corridor that is important, not the profits.
Of course, Russian investors' interests do not have any negative effect on the Estonian economy. On the contrary, those interests secure the growth and development of the economy.
