KRASNODAR, April 23 (RIA Novosti) – A Hong Kong-based investment holding company, China Merchants Holdings, plans to invest 11 billion rubles ($307.9 million) in the construction of a technology park in southern Russia’s Krasnodar by 2019, the Krasnodar mayor’s office said Wednesday.
The construction of the science park signals China's push to cement business ties with Moscow and form a new China-Russia geopolitical alliance amid strained relations between Russia and the West.
Krasnodar Mayor Vladimir Yevlanov and the company’s general manager, Wang Zhixian, signed a framework agreement of intent Tuesday to fulfill the investment project.
“In prospect, it [technology park] will create 3,000 new jobs in the city. The investment amount will exceed 11 billion rubles,” Mikhail Kornilov, the director of the International Complex Industrial Technology Park-Kuban, was quoted by the office as saying.
China’s Zhixian said the project would become a “bridge of friendship, cooperation and partnership.”
The science park, covering the area of 15 hectares, will also include a 60,000 square meter shopping mall, a 5,000 square meter tourist complex, a hostel and logistic and industrial complexes, the mayor’s office said.
The construction is expected to begin in March 2015 and to be completed by December 2018.
China Merchants Holdings International Co Ltd, founded in 2003, is involved in a international financial activity, mediation of business and international trade. It actively cooperates with the IMF, London-based AQ Barclays and HSBC, and the Bank of China.
Last week, Chinese investors also announced plans to launch the first phase of a major Siberian timber complex later this year. Investment in the project has already reached 9 billion rubles ($250 million).The overall investment in timber logging, processing and related infrastructure is expected to reach 30 billion rubles ($830 million) by 2022.
