China's CRCC might help build $350 mln fish tech park in Sakhalin
MOSCOW. June 19 (Interfax) - Russia's Federal Fisheries Agency and CRCC International Investment Group Ltd discussed the possibility of building a fish technology park on Sakhalin Island with investments of $350 million, the agency said after a meeting between agency head Ilya Shestakov and CRCC International Investment Group general manager Dong Futang.
CRCC International Investment Group Ltd is a division of China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) and is overseen by China's Agriculture Ministry.
The Chinese company presented a concept for the construction of a fish processing industrial park in Sakhalin Region and the company's capabilities.
The project would involve building plants to process seafood, logistics and storage facilities, a trading platform, as well as new fishing vessels and a fishing seaport. The planned amount of investment in the project is about $350 million, and design processing capacity is 300,000 tonnes of marine bioresources per year.
CRCC International Investment Group hopes to create a joint Chinese-Russian venture at the state level that could become a model for implementing large-scale and high-tech projects in Russia and China, a company representative said.
"Of course, we support such an undertaking. In general, we are interested in implementing the project on Sakhalin. But the most important thing this is what resources you will be working on. As soon as there is an understanding of this, we will move quickly and bring in all the necessary specialists for the creation of such a complex," Shestakov was quoted as saying.
He recalled that under Russian law quotas to catch liquid marine bioresources are assigned to Russian users on the historical principle for 15 years, and either quota-free resources that are underdeveloped by Russian fishing companies or a partnership with a Russian fishing company can be considered as a source of feedstock.
The parties agreed that the Federal Fisheries Agency will study the project and proposal possible options for cooperation within the context of current Russian laws.
"The fishing sector in Russia is developing rapidly. New vessels and fish processing plants are being built thanks to updated legislation. In general, the objective is to change the resource slant of exports and focus on developing intensive processing," Shestakov said, stressing the importance of strategic partnership between the two countries and the Chinese company's interest in investment.