MOSCOW, May 4. /TASS/. Russian authorities are working on raising private money for much-needed production facilities, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Thursday.

"The government is currently taking extra measures as instructed by the President, which will help to significantly increase the amount of private funds raised for manufacturing projects of priority industrial products. Investments should be at least ten trillion rubles ($127.9 bln) over the next eight years, including two trillion [rubles] ($25.6 bln) already this year," Mishustin said.

A cluster investment platform mechanism was launched specifically for this purpose in late March, the Prime Minister noted. It provides for granting long-term loans at a subsidized rate. "Over the past month, eight projects totaling about 220 bln rubles ($2.8 bln) have been approved already. More than forty more are under consideration. They are estimated at 1.3 trillion rubles ($16.6 bln)," Mishustin said.

The government has just recently renewed its program of state guarantees to support the industry, having increased the monetary amount for such purposes by a third, the Prime Minister said. This will make capital investments more attractive for the most pressing tasks, including modernization of production facilities.

"To recap, since April we have expanded the industrial mortgage program to cover construction, modernization and renovation of plant spaces. We also increased the amount of planned subsidies to 1.35 bln rubles ($17.3 mln) this year," Mishustin said.

The Russian government has financed more than a hundred projects worth almost four billion rubles ($51.2 mln) as part of the reverse engineering mechanism, the Prime Minister informed. They are aimed at creating new production facilities for the most important components, including in engineering development centers being opened. "Seven of them are already operating and they specialize in the most promising areas, for example, the electrochemical energy segment,".