VITEBSK, 23 January (BelTA) – Orsha Meat-Packing Plant is busy implementing an investment project worth nearly €15 million, BelTA has learned.
The investment contract to implement the project to build a new slaughterhouse was signed at premises of the Vitebsk Oblast administration on 23 January. The engineering company Kholodinternational Plus with a 100% Polish capital share will act as the project's investor and general contractor.
The investment contract provides for building the slaughterhouse, waste treatment facilities, infrastructure, and for delivering and installing the necessary plant and equipment. Preparatory work will be done in April. Construction is supposed to begin in May. The slaughterhouse will be built in 2018 while equipment will be installed and tuned in 2019. The slaughterhouse is scheduled for commissioning in December 2019.
The shop will be able to process 60 head of pigs and 40 head of cattle per hour. The slaughterhouse Orsha Meat-Packing Plant uses now was built in the 1930s and reconstructed in the 1970s. It will be shut down once the new facility is commissioned. The new slaughterhouse will be able to fully satisfy the company's demand for raw materials.
Nikolai Shabunya, Director of Orsha Meat-Packing Plant, noted that the new slaughterhouse will be built in line with the latest standards and will meet the toughest sanitary and veterinary requirements. With the new facility in operation, the company will be able to reach non-CIS markets, including Muslim countries since the project provides for slaughtering cattle in accordance with halal standards. The new slaughterhouse is also expected to roughly double the company's earnings.
Vitebsk Oblast Governor Nikolai Sherstnev also mentioned the importance of the investment project. He said: “There are plans to build new major pig farms and dairy farms in Vitebsk Oblast. This is why serious attention is paid to the modernization of dairy and meat processing enterprises.”
Nikolai Sherstnev also pointed out the company's good performance in 2017. In particular, the output growth rate totaled 140% as against 2016, with the growth rate of earnings close to 150%. The company also reported an export growth rate as high as 141%. “This year should be even more effective. It is necessary to lay down the groundwork so that by the time the new slaughterhouse is commissioned — in essence a new meat-packing plant — the company could repay the debts accumulated in the previous years,” said Nikolai Sherstnev.
