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Putin orders to find funding sources, including budgetary, for Zvezda shipyard building

The president has given instructions to determine the financing sources as soon as possible, including budget financing, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said

VLADIVOSTOK, November 13. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has given instructions to find as soon as possible the sources of funding of the Zvezda shipyard construction, including budget sources, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said on Thursday.

“The president has given instructions to determine the financing sources as soon as possible,” the minister said. “It may be also budget financing,” he added.

Manturov said the project’s budget financing would begin only in 2016, and the funds would amount to some 12 billion rubles ($259.82 million). “This, in essence, should be a substitution to the short loans provided by Gazprombank for maintaining the construction dynamics,” the minister added.

“The consortium headed by Rosneft is to make a decision in the short run and the state should ensure maximum support for the project implementation,” he said.

The industry and trade minister said the first stage of the shipyard’s construction was planned to be completed in 2016. Answering a question if tankers and super tankers will be built at the shipyard, Manturov said that this would be possible only after the shipyard’s dry dock construction is completed, but this is not included in the first stage.

According to him, at Thursday’s meeting the president also criticized the officials responsible for the project because the package of orders for the period after 2018 has not been fully formed yet. The issue of attracting qualified personnel to the enterprise was also discussed. Manturov said the shipyard was 107% loaded at present and the excess of orders is caused by the qualified personnel shortage. He said a special residential area for personnel from other regions would be created near the enterprise to settle this issue.