At the joint meeting of the Supervisory councils of ASEZ Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk and Nikolaevsk, a summary of territory development in 2021 was presented, and the goas were defined for the implementation of the residents’ investment projects in 2022, amidst the imposed sanctions. The meeting was chaired by Maria Avilova, the First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Khabarovsk Krai, and was held with the participation of Nikolay Zapryagaev, Acting Director General of the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (FEDC).

“Today, the economy of the Khabarovsk Krai, as well as the whole country, is facing difficult times. Nevertheless, we still have to pursue the tasks set by the President concerning the advanced development of the Far East. On March 17, Mikhail Degtyarev, the Governor of the region, approved a plan of priorities for sustainable development of the region’s economy, where, along with measures to support business and the population, special attention is paid to the implementation of investment projects. Currently, we are focusing on 80 investment projects at the stage of active implementation, including 44 projects implemented in ASEZ and FPV modes. The regional government will do its utmost to have them timely launched and functioning without interruptions”, said Maria Avilova.

Irina Serova, the Director of the Management company of ASEZ Khabarovsk (a FEDC subsidiary), reporting on the operational results of three ASEZs, said that in 2021, the residents’ investment projects with the total amount of investments of RUB 4 billion were put into operation, the boundaries of ASEZ Khabarovsk were expanded to include three more projects with a total investment amount of RUB 5.7 billion and a total number of jobs - 616.

Important milestones in creating the infrastructure for ASEZ residents were noted: ASEZ Komsomolsk - completed construction of (i) Holdomi site - power supply facilities; (ii) Parus site - gas pipeline; ASEZ Nikolaevsk - Innokentievka site - technological hook-up of the facilities to the electric grids; ASEZ Khabarovsk - Rakitnoye site - Stage I and II water supply and sanitation facilities were commissioned, Stage I and II on-site stormwater networks sewerage; Avangard site - highway to the site. This made it possible for the residents to have the projects timely implemented and put into operation with the use of available infrastructure.

“In 2022, we have a lot to do – to ensure the implementation of the residents’ investment projects and to expand the ASEZ boundaries to include new projects. In cooperation with the regional authorities demonstrating collaborative approach to resolving the emerging issues, these tasks will be completed”, Irina Serova said.

She also mentioned the current problems for investors, including the increase in the price of natural gas supplied under Sakhalin -1 project for the residents of ASEZ Khabarovsk. Presently the cost of this resource is linked to the USD exchange rate and commodity exchange rates.

The situation around the gas prices is supervised by the Government of the Khabarovsk Krai and FEDC, by the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic and the Envoy’s Office in the Far Eastern Federal District. Different variants for resolving this situation are under consideration, including offering subsidized gas prices for preferential regime investors. Regular supplies of gas fuel from Sakhalin are also under control.

Inna Fetisova, the Head of Neftemash Vostok Service and Corpservice, both residents of the ASEZ, made a speech in which she noted the need to attract more customers to purchase products manufactured by these companies. These companies substitute imported equipment used in petrochemical production with the domestic equipment and facilities. In order to increase the profitability of the projects, the investor is ready to try entering the adjacent markets. Currently, the companies are based in one of the two production and administrative buildings built by FEDC at the Parus site to be offered for preferential lease to ASEZ investors. FEDC and regional development institutions will support the promotion of these products and services comparable with foreign equivalents in terms of quality, but at a much lower price.

The construction of a pig farm with a capacity of up to 70,000 pigs per year is being completed in the Khabarovsk Krai by a resident of ASEZ Khabarovsk - SkifAgro-DV The Supervisory Council members discussed the implementation of the project and noted that the overall construction readiness of the facility is over 90%, with the commissioning scheduled for 2022.

Issues such as reducing the VAT refund period, as well as the period for registration of wood plots for rent, were raised by Geoprominvest.

At ASEZ Komsomolsk, an investor is building a plant for processing the reserves of a technogenic deposit. The company will produce copper concentrate from previously exhausted ore.

Denis Gros, head of logistics companies which are residents of ASEZ Khabarovsk, made a proposal to make a mechanism to stabilize the situation in the construction materials market. According to him, prices for some products have tripled since the beginning of this year, which significantly inhibits the progress of construction in the investment projects. He also raised the issue of expanding the list of activities of ASEZ residents that are subject to the terms of concessional financing.

Nikolay Zapryagaev, Acting Director General of the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation, noted that all challenges faced by the ASEZ investors are in the focus of attention of the Management Company: “We are working on them together with the regional authorities and with the support of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic. If necessary we get other federal ministries and institutions involved in the process, and introduce the necessary changes to the legislation. We are taking timely efforts so that investors could implement their projects, manufacture products and deliver services, especially for import substitution applications, and people could get jobs at new enterprises.”

According to FEDC, for today 80 residents of the three ASEZs, Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk and Nikolaevsk, are acting as investors under agreements with FEDC. The total volume of investments in the projects exceeds RUB 80.7 billion, with 8.5 thousand new jobs. The actual amount of investments is RUB 54 billion, with 5,105 persons employed. In the Khabarovsk Krai, residents’ projects are implemented in various industries – timber processing, mechanical engineering, agriculture, logistics, gas chemistry, medicine, construction materials, mining, fishing and aquaculture, development, manufacturing, services and tourism, food production, etc. ASEZ Khabarovsk and ASEZ Komsomolsk have been operating in the Khabarovsk Krai since 2015, ASEZ Nikolaevsk - since 2017.

Let us remind you that investors implementing projects in the Far East and Arctic have been granted a deferment on the fulfillment of obligations until the end of 2022. Until December 31 this year, the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Corporation will not terminate agreements with residents of the Advanced Special Economic Zones (ASEZ), the Free Port Vladivostok (FPV) and the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF) in case investors fail to meet deadlines and other obligations under the agreements. This decision applies to all residents of preferential regimes. First and foremost, it aims to support active entrepreneurs who have already started projects but have encountered objective difficulties due to reasons beyond the residents’ control.