Bureaucrats Hunt The Big Investor

<BR>Governor's Decree No.286-r has yet to pass examination by the Russian State Antimonopoly Commission.<BR>According to the decree, plots of land for the construction of petrol stations will be available at investment tender not separately, but in three large lots of 15, 12 and 9 plots. Only petrol giants can afford to spend the $1-2m required for such a purchase. As a result, some companies capable of building 2-4 stations felt their rights had been impaired. <BR>"This decree wasnot presented to us for ratification," says Natalia Kruglova, head of the local branch of the Antimonopoly Commission, "although it should have been. We can't yet talk about any discrepancies between the decree and antimonopoly legislation, but several sections of the document have prompted doubts." <BR>"At the moment there are too many small companies in the city 'sitting' on plots of land, trying to make money reselling them. The market is unregulated, and we are trying to give it a civilized image," says Nikita Maslennikov, head of the city Economic Policy Committee's investment projects department which prepared the unfortunate decree.