Technical aid from China for electrification of China-Belarus Industrial Park

China will allocate about $24 million as technical economic aid for the electrification of the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone, the press service of the Belarusian Energy Ministry told BelTA.

The source said that the project for building electric networks in the primary development area of the Great Stone park including the construction of a 110/10kV substation is being implemented in accordance with the relevant Belarusian-Chinese intergovernmental agreement. “The technical economic aid will be about ¥150 million or about $24 million,” said the source. It will be granted to the Minsk city electrical company Minskenergo.

The general contractor for implementing the project is being chosen among Chinese companies with assistance of representatives of Powerchina Zhongnan Engineering Corporation Limited, which is the supervisor of the project. According to the Energy Ministry, the industrial park is expected to consume about 215MW, including 45MW needed in the first phase and 170MW needed in the second phase.

The China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone is a territorial unit with a special legal regime meant to enable comfortable conditions for doing business. The park's concept provides for creating a convenient infrastructure for developing business, granting a considerable tax respite to participants of the project for a rather lengthy period of time, and providing a set of services to residents of the park. The priority business avenues of the park include the development of fine chemistry, biomedicine, electronics industry, mechanical engineering.

The park is located in Smolevichi District, Minsk Oblast 25km away from Minsk in the immediate proximity to an international airport, the railway network, and the transnational motorway Berlin-Moscow. There are plans to set up manufacturing and residential zones in the park, office premises, trade and entertainment ones, a financial center and an R&D center.