A year ago, on May 12, 2020, the Government of the Russian Federation approved the boundaries of the territory of advanced development in the Kola district and the city district of Murmansk. The first ADZ in Russia beyond the Arctic Circle was named the "Capital of the Arctic". On June 1, its first resident, NOVATEK – Murmansk LLC, was registered with a project to create a center for the construction of large-capacity offshore structures, which is still the anchor resident of the territory.
Today, the ADZ "Capital of the Arctic" consists of 8 residents with a total declared investment volume of 166.6 billion rubles.
To mark the birthday of the ADZ "Capital of the Arctic", the Governor of the Murmansk Region, Andrey Chibis, held an online meeting with representatives of residents and organizations that manage the territory.
The Minister of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic Alexey Chekunkov addressed the participants of the meeting with a welcoming speech.
"In the world of people, a year is the age when a small person gets on his feet. The "Capital of the Arctic", the first and unique Arctic ADZ, was established as a preferential regime and successfully adjoins the preferential regime of the Arctic Zone of Russia – the world's largest free economic zone. The performance of residents of the ADZ, those more than one and a half billion rubles under signed agreements, of which almost 55 billion rubles have been invested – is a very serious reserve for the future. We, for our part, will continue to provide comprehensive support to every resident, every project, regardless of its size, because every job, every ruble of profit is the development of the Arctic, what we are working for, " the minister stressed.
Alexey Chekunkov also noted that the work of the ADZ "Capital of the Arctic" contributes, among other things, to the development of the Northern Sea Route as a new international transport corridor, and thanked all participants of the conference for their contribution to the creation and growth of the territory of advanced development.
Andrey Chibis in his speech recalled that work on the formation of a new preferential regime in the Murmansk region began in 2019.
"In December 2019, a visiting meeting of the State Commission for the Development of the Arctic was held in Murmansk under the chairmanship of Yuri Petrovich Trutnev. He supported this initiative of the Murmansk Region. To date, we have received almost two billion rubles in taxes, and this is a concrete effect for the region from those projects that are still only in the implementation stage, construction. I would like to thank the investors who are actively implementing projects, despite the pandemic, and achieving results within the planned deadlines. Everything that depends on the government of the Murmansk region and on me personally, we will do to ensure that these projects take place, " the governor said.
In addition to investments and taxes, the most important positive factor for the region associated with the ADZ is the new jobs for northerners created by resident companies. Thus, seven companies, with the exception of NOVATEK-Murmansk, account for more than 4,000 thousand jobs that will appear with the implementation of their projects. As for the CSKMS project, it already employs about 1,000 residents of the Murmansk Region, among other employees. According to Petr Oborin, General Director of NOVATEK-Murmansk, the company is currently engaged in a dialogue with the regional government and educational institutions about training personnel for the project in the future.
According to Andrey Chibis, in the near future, the status of a resident of the ADZ "Capital of the Arctic" will receive "New Murmansk" – a project for the reconstruction of the former port zone into a modern urban space with a cultural and business center.
In addition, they are preparing to become residents of the territory of АО (JSC) "Arkmineral-Resurs" with a project for the development of the Afrikandskoye field of perovskite-titanomagnetite ores and ООО (LLC) «Morskoi torgovyi port "Lavna"» with plans for the construction of a coal terminal on the western shore of the Kola Bay. During the online meeting, representatives of both companies confirmed their intentions to implement the projects according to the estimated deadlines and indicators.