MINSK, 28 May (BelTA) – Brest Oblast Governor Piotr Parkhomchik presented the program of the region’s industrial development through 2030 during his report to Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on 28 May, BelTA has learned.
According to the governor, Brest Oblast performed well last year, fulfilling all the tasks set by the government. The gross regional product is positive across all the areas. As far as agriculture is concerned, there is some caution here because of the frosts that hit Brest Oblast in several waves and made serious adjustments in farming works.
The president also asked about the situation in industry.
Piotr Parkhomchik presented to the head of state the Brest Oblast industrial development program through 2030. The document had been prepared following the president’s instructions. According to the governor, it includes all the investment projects that are being implemented in Brest Oblast. It gives an opportunity to see the real situation in the region's industrial sector and assess the prospects. The prospects are encouraging, Piotr Parkhomchik said.
According to him, wages should double by the designated period. “We feel that the salary will be within Br4,600by 2030,” he said. “Revenue per employee will grow to Br490,000.”
According to the president, such optimistic forecasts do not always come true. The governor assured that the outlined plans are based on specific pilot projects, which implementation is already underway and financed by 30-50%. “These projects are at the stage of completion and we are waiting for the results,” he said.
Brest Oblast finished last year with an increase in gross regional product, higher production in industry and agriculture, Piotr Parkhomchik told the media after the report to the head of state. “These trends keep maintaining. GRP growth over the four months [of this year] is 103%. This is a very good result. Industry and agriculture are operating within 104%,” the governor said.
He added that the program presented to the president would be supplemented with new projects and ideas if necessary. On the instructions of the head of state, special attention will be paid to shipbuilding, including the development of the domestic river cargo, passenger and tourist fleet, as well as aircraft construction.
The program envisages about Br5 billion in total investment.
Speaking about the region’s main projects, the governor said that two industrial parks are being built in Brest Oblast - in Baranovichi and Pinsk. “We have made a decision and are gradually putting production areas into operation in order to launch every park and make them earn money,” he said. The first construction stage of both parks will be completed this year. The stage will include all construction and installation works, and necessary infrastructure. In total, the work is divided into four stages; each will take about a year to complete. Business representatives are already showing interest in the park in Baranovichi.
Piotr Parkhomchik cited the production of Midea appliances as an example. Not long ago the production of refrigerators was launched, with a batch of 2,000 items made for the markets of Kazakhstan and Russia. “There is a demand for refrigerators, which we plan to produce. The output will be brought to 850,000,” the governor said. This project attracted $28.8 million of FDI to Belarus and brought in unique technological equipment to ensure local production of components for refrigerators. At the same time, the project implementation took a short period of time. According to the governor, within a span of seven months it was possible to bring 60,000 square meters of production space back to use.
“This enterprise provides for large-scale localization of all components, i.e. everything necessary for the production of refrigerators should be produced at the site in Baranovichi,” Piotr Parkhomchik stressed. According to him, a similar approach is used when selecting other projects to ensure maximum localization in Belarus.Plans are in place to develop battery production in Brest, Pinsk, at industrial parks. “Our task is to increase battery production at least 1.6-1.7 times. Today we produce 800,000-850,000 pieces. The task is to reach 1.6-1.7 million pieces of different types of batteries,” the governor said. In his words, Belarus also addresses the used battery issue, producing, for example, lead plates from them.
