Tomsk SEZ project is progressing well

Viktor Tolokonsky, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Siberian Federal District, visited the Southern Site of the Tomsk Special Economic Zone of Technical Innovation Type and its resident companies on his official visit to Tomsk.

ZAO BioEco was one of the companies who received the Envoy. BioEco is developing a technology to manufacture adhesive compositions (bioglues) from food industry waste. This eco-friendly and non-toxic glue will replace formaldehyde resin used to manufacture particle boards. The company is already working together with manufacturers – OOO Tomlesdrev (60% of the particle board market in the Siberian Federal District) and LPK Partner Tomsk.

The bioglue has already generated significant interest. Its developers say that it can be used as carpenter's glue. Also, pellets manufactured with the bioglue burn longer. Apart from environmental friendliness, the bioglue has another advantage – the cost to manufacture it is lower than the cost of manufacture of formaldehydes. The bioglue is made of the waste of food processing plants such as sugar, beer, and dairy plants.

"We still have a year to bring the project to the production stage. The basis is ready," says Irina Belikova, General Director of ZAO BioEco. "At the production stage we are planning to manufacture approximately 10,000 tons of resin. For that we'll need a biotechnology plant." To date, 12 million rubles has been spent on the project.

President of Elecard Group Andrey Pozdnyakov presented hardware accessories for digital TV sets such as a digital top box which offers a wide variety of online services. For example, the user can make a doctor's appointment or keep their personal health records, browse the Internet or watch digital television at home. The mass production of this item will bring its price to around 1,500 rubles.

Tomsk SEZ CEO Aleksey Baryshev described the overall progress of the SEZ project and made a special point that all utilities and roads on the Southern Site have been built. Construction of the customs infrastructure is in progress. He also informed that the management of OAO Tomsk SEZ is currently negotiating with Singapore's Jurong Consultants on the cooperation in the development of the Tomsk SEZ. "Jurong Consultants is a world leader in consulting. We hope for cooperation with them in developing the SEZ and the reserve territories on the Southern and Northern Sites," says Aleksey Baryshev. Apart from cooperation with the SEZ, Jurong is considering involvement in the Tomsk student campus project. The meeting with Jurong Consultants is scheduled for December 2-3.

"There are not many SEZ's in Russia and so successfully developing SEZs as the one in Tomsk are really rare," said Viktor Tolokonsky. He also said that as soon as all the stages of the SEZ project are complete, the management functions will be delegated to the regions where the zones function. "Tomsk Region already owns many functions and invests a lot of its own resources, thus driving the success of the project," he added.

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• November
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