Chinese get 120ha of Belarusian land for 100 years

Lukashenka offered unprecedented preferences to Chinese car manufacturers.

The ruler signed decree No. 35 “On organising car production”. The document was signed to create “favourable conditions for the production of new kinds of automobiles in Belarus”, according to Lukashenka's press service. It provides for the implementation of an investment project to establish a car assembly plant in Barysau district (Minsk region).

The investment project provides for building and launching a car plant and internal and external engineering and transport infrastructure facilities. The project will be implemented in accordance with the memorandum on advancing cooperation in car manufacturing, which was signed by the Ministry of Industry and Geely company (China). The plant is expected to be constructed by July 1, 2019.

Under the decree, BelGee, a Belarusian-Chinese joint venture to produce Geely cars, was chosen to design and build the plant and the internal engineering and transport infrastructure facilities. BelGee was founded by BelAZ, Geely and Soyuzavtotechnologii private joint stock company and registered in the free economic zone Minsk.

The municipal capital construction enterprise UKS Borisov will design and build the external engineering and transport facilities and move the existing engineering networks from the construction site.

Under the decree, the Minsk city executive committee will lease a plot of land (118.87ha) inside the free economic zone Minsk to BelGee for 99 years for building and operating the plant. UKS Borisov will receive the land plots for permanent and temporary use for building and operating the external engineering and transport infrastructure facilities.

“The implementation of the decree is supposed to raise investments for creating an export-oriented enterprise with the output capacity of 120,000 cars per annum. The future enterprise is supposed to export 90% of the output. To operate at 100% capacity, the company will have to employ about 1,900 people. The implementation of the decree will also allow assimilating new technologies for manufacturing competitive vehicles,” the press service says.

The implementation of the investment project to produce cars in Barysau was discussed by Lukashenka, PM Mikhail Miasnikovich and head of the Minsk city executive committee Siamion Shapira at a working meeting on January 14.

“I can say that what many Belarusians and, above all, I have been dreaming about has come true,” Lukashenka said. “We have made Belarusian cars together with our Chinese friends. According to my data, we sold roughly 2,500 cars last year. There is demand for this type of cars not only in Belarus but abroad, too”

BelGee was founded on December 23, 2011. The investment agreement with Chinese Geely was signed in March 2012. The plant to assemble Chinese cars is located on the premises rented from the Barysau-based company Avtogydrousilitel. The maximum capacity of the SKD assembly plant is 10,000 cars per year. The plant has 57 employees. BelGee was founded by OAO BelAZ (50% of shares), China-based Geely (32.5%) and Belarusian-Chinese joint venture to produce car parts Soyuzavtotechnologii.