By Mikhail Kovalevsky
“This is the most contemporary project within the CIS, completely meeting domestic and Western European standards,” stresses Vladimir Borodavko, Director General of the National Academy of Sciences’ Tsentr Scientific-Production Association. He dispels doubts regarding the ecological purity of the biotechnology behind the proposed communal waste recycling plants. “Due to the safety methods we’re using, as applied by our Austrian partners to recycle silt, sewage sludge and communal waste, generating electricity and heat, we’ll be able to supply Belarus-made equipment, as well as ‘turn-key’ waste recycling factories and bio-gas units to countries with the strictest ecological legislation.”
Industry Ministry and Housing and Communal Services Ministry enterprises will be also manufacturing part of equipment. Waste recycling factories, using Austrian technology and equipped with Belarus-made equipment, will appear throughout Belarus. One is currently being constructed in Brest, with seven similar enterprises planned in total: two will be sited in Minsk.
Austrian STRABAG SE, which recently signed foundation documents to establish a joint venture at the Tsentr Scientific-Production Association, is to invest money and expertise into the project, so is serious in selecting a partner. The Minsk company, boasting powerful scientific and production potential, is to act as an engineering organisation, designing and producing a whole range of technological equipment. The authoritative Austrian partner has long worked in the sphere of road and industrial construction, as well as the building of purification and renewable energy facilities; it employs over 75,000 employees over the globe and boasts over 13bn Euros of annual turnover.
According to Thomas Buchner, STRABAG SE’s Managing Director, the volume of injections into the joint project will depend on terms set by Belarus. However, the construction of a communal waste recycling plant in Brest is proving successful, showing the Austrians that the climate for foreign business in Belarus can be comfortable. They have selected our country among all of the CIS states.
