Belarusian electric companies to help modernize facilities in Russia's Leningrad Oblast

MINSK, 3 August (BelTA) – There are plans to involve Belarusian electric companies in the modernization of facilities in Russia's Leningrad Oblast, the press service of the Belarusian Energy Ministry told BelTA.

Bilateral cooperation options were discussed as a delegation of the Belarusian Energy Ministry led by Deputy Energy Minister Denis Moroz met with Deputy Prime Minister of the Leningrad Oblast government Oleg Malashchenko in St. Petersburg.

The press service said that Belarus and Leningrad Oblast already have positive experience of cooperation in many branches of the economy. Taking into account mutual interest in stepping up the bilateral contacts opportunities for expanding the number of joint projects in power engineering are being evaluated. The participation of Belarusian design offices, construction and installation organizations in investment projects envisaging the creation of new sources of heat and reconstruction of existing sources in Leningrad Oblast is the idea.

Apart from that, Belarusian specialists are expected to get involved in work within the framework of the program on gas supply development and on gasification of the region for the period till 2025. Belarus has accumulated significant experience in this field: over 83% of apartments in Belarus have access to mains gas. The total length of gas pipelines exceeds 66,000km. Last year alone saw about 18,000 apartments and households get connected to gas mains, Denis Moroz noted.

During the meeting the Belarusian delegation mentioned readiness to realize turn-key projects in a number of areas. The agreements that have been reached are supposed to be converted into practical actions soon.