EPT estimating cost of grain hub in Iran at 17 bln rubles, expecting feasibility study in 2025
NOVOSIVIRSK. Dec 13 (Interfax) - Production and export company EPT (Novosibirsk, part of the New Overland Grain Corridor Group of Companies) estimates the project of creating grain and container terminals in Iran at 17 billion rubles, with a feasibility study of the project to be ready by 2025.
"There will be both a grain terminal there [in Iran], and also a container terminal. The agreement with partners from Iran was signed on November 26 this year, we are now coordinating the roadmap for the implementation of a specific project in terms of a feasibility study, collection of specific data," Valery Dubrovsky, First Deputy Director General for Strategic Development and Implementation of Priority Projects at EPT LLC, told reporters in Novosibirsk on Wednesday.
The project has been tentatively named the "Grain+" hub and is to be implemented in the city of Sarakhs. According to open sources, Sarakhs is one of the key centers of foreign trade in the north-east of Iran: an important transit route from Central Asia and the Middle East passes through it.
"In terms of investment, the grain terminal is 10 billion rubles, the container terminal is 7 billion rubles, totaling 17 billion rubles, in terms of time - the investment phase takes two years from the moment of registration of land plots. We are targeting 2026-2027 for when such a facility will be created," he said.
It may take all of 2024 to collect initial data and conduct preparatory work, Dubrovsky said.
The terminals will be similar to those already operating in Russia's Zabaikalsk.
According to information on its website, EPT has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with IranianEurasia Trading and Logistics, a resident of the Sarakhs Special Economic Zone. Grain deliveries to Iran will be carried out in specialized containers - grain carriers, which are part of the "land grain fleet", with consumer goods as well as food products delivered in the opposite direction in the same special containers.
The agreement envisages the creation of overland grain and transportation and logistics infrastructure facilities in the Sarakh special economic zone.
Speaking about development plans in Russia, Dubrovsky said that EPT does not rule out expanding its program of building linear elevators in the eastern part of Russia.
"No one is saying that we will not have an expansion of this program. The regions of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East have needs in terms of elevator capacities - at least 40 million tonnes of storage at any one time," he said.
"We have seven facilities [in Siberia, the Urals and the Far East] and all of them, in fact, are being implemented through 2029-2030," Dubrovsky said.
The first facilities - linear elevators with storage of 200,000 tonnes - will be built in the Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Regions in 2026, as well as in the Altai Territory, where the project has already undergone expert review, all surveys have been carried out, and construction will begin in 2024.
The cost of each elevator is 5 billion rubles, excluding technical connection to electricity and gas grids, railroad connection, etc.
Promising areas for project implementation have been selected in the Irkutsk and Omsk Regions, and a decision on launching the project could be made early next year. In addition, there are plans to build linear elevators in Tyumen and the Trans-Baikal Territory.
Production and Export Company EPT is an authorized operator of the New Overland Grain Corridor program for the development of contract grain production and the creation of main elevator infrastructure in the Urals, Siberia and the Far East.