January 11, 2013. More than 3bn RUR was invested in the upgrades in Sverdlovsk Region’s chemical industry last year. For one, Ural Rubber Goods Plant completed the first stage of its ten-year modernization project, which required 400m RUR worth of investments, Sverdlovsk Region Government Press Service & Information Administration reports.

The plant launched a hi tech calendar production line for making conveyor belts; the introduction of a new technological process allowed the company to reduce its materials spending and to halve its process losses. In 2012, the renovated biological treatment plants were also commissioned at the multi-purpose development project location Tagil Chemical Park. This required 580m RUR worth of investments (217m RUR obtained from Uralkhimplast’s own funds and 339m RUR allocated by the state within the framework of a support program for one-employer towns).

The Tagil Chemical Park Project also included upgrades of the phenol-formaldehyde resin production facility; as a result, the production output went up by 7,200 tons a year. More than 53m RUR was invested in the construction of a casting resin production plant. Finally, the authorities are now working on the legal details of getting some private sponsors to join a project on the construction of a methanol-making plant with the capacity of 600,000 tons a year. The plant is expected to be put up in 2015 and will require over 13bn RUR worth of investments.