SYKTYVKAR, June 29. /TASS/. The Komi Region's investment portfolio currently contains 72 projects worth 700 billion rubles ($9 billion), where three in four projects are in the Russian Federation's Arctic Zone, the region's Governor Rostislav Goldstein said following a working visit to the region of Russia's Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev, and his meeting with local businesses.
"Despite the external environment, Komi's economy retains a high investment potential: our portfolio contains 72 projects worth 700 billion rubles, and three-quarters of those projects are in the Arctic Zone," the deputy prime minister's press service quoted the region's governor as saying. "The Arctic is a true growth point nowadays, and we are doing everything to make investors feel comfortable here."
Investors may enjoy advantages of the Arctic Zone's business residency. This status has been granted to 43 companies from Vorkuta, Inta, Usinsk, and the Ust-Tsilemsky District in the following industries: processing, transportation, construction, tourism, medicine and social services, agriculture, and the food industry, with a total investment of 2.86 billion rubles ($37 million) and where the businesses will create 858 new jobs. By now, they have created 334 new jobs, and invested 671.32 million rubles ($8.7 million).
At the meeting, the Azot Group of Companies presented the Vorkuta Gas Chemical Complex project. The project is supported by the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic. An agreement on the project's implementation was signed at the Eastern Economic Forum in 2024. The chemical complex's main products would be ammonia and urea, with the annual capacity of 1.2 million tons and 1.7 million tons, respectively. Total investment in the project may reach 200 billion rubles ($2.6 billion), and the business will create up to 2,000 new jobs. The investor is working now on the project's financial model and technical parameters.
The meeting participants discussed commissioning of a plant to produce calcium carbide and ferroalloys in the subpolar city of Inta, due in late 2026. The project to create a unique import-substituting production facility to produce calcium carbide has been underway since 2021. The investor has been granted the status of the Arctic Zone's business resident. The plant's annual capacity is planned 9,000 tons of calcium carbide. The plant will compete with current exporters of calcium carbide from Kazakhstan and China. The facility is now 96% complete, and work to automate the production process control systems is underway. The company has finalized works on water drainage, the furnace installation, installation of the technological equipment to receive, store and feed raw materials.
About gas supplies in the region
Another issue on the meeting's agenda was gas supplies to consumers in Komi. Over 2021 to 2025, Gazprom's division in Syktyvkar organized for the first time gas supplies to the Kortkerossky and Sysolsky Districts, as well as the cities of Vorkuta and Inta. The company has built five new gas pipelines with gas distribution stations, and laid distribution gas networks to more than 20 settlements. The region's 7,700 private clients have filed applications for gas supplies, and under 6,000 contracts the company has laid lines to private land plots. More than 4,500 households have been connected to the gas network. In the future, the company plans to organize gas supplies to the Priluzsky District and to expand the gas supplies zone in the Syktyvdinsky and Ust-Vymsky Districts, as well as the city of Usinsk.
Following meetings with local entrepreneurs, the presidential envoy instructed the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic to eye additional incentives for investment projects in the Arctic territories.
"The list of questions that investors are asking has been somewhat standard. Investors are concerned about the refinancing rate. For export-oriented projects, the national currency's exchange rate is of great importance. These questions set the scenario. Of great importance are conditions of infrastructures, and the business climate - the extent to which the administration supports projects and whether it is friendly towards investors. I have asked the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic to review support for investment projects, to examine further the progress of investment projects, as this is top important," the deputy prime minister said.