Specialty vehicle plant to be set up in FEZ Vitebsk

VITEBSK, 6 May (BelTA) – A Belarusian-Russian joint company of Grandiscar plans to start the construction of a special purpose vehicle plant in the Free Economic Zone Vitebsk in 2011, Director of the company Yuri Lyubimov told reporters. Grandiscar is a resident of the FEZ Vitebsk. The investment project is designed to set up facilities to manufacture special purpose vehicles with the capacity of up to 5,000 vehicles a year on one of the FEZ sites. The volume of investments is expected to total about $15 million during the next five years. The company has already set up production facilities on rented premises. The company is about to start the construction of the plant, which will cover the area of 5,000 square meters. The manufacturing process is based on the semi knock-down technology. The Russian cofounder of the company has designed more than 70 models of vehicles and it is ready to organize the production of these automobiles in Belarus. Grandiscar’s lineup features ambulances, special purpose vehicles for security agencies, microbuses, and a series of other vehicles on the basis of VW and Ford chassis. The plant is expected to use chassis by Iveko and Belarusian manufacturers in prospect. Grandiscar is set to produce about 300 vehicles in 2011, mostly for Belarusian customers, although the company plans to tap markets of Russia and other CIS nations. Yuri Lyubimov said that the company’s experts are mulling over designing a mobile hospital and a specialized doctor’s cabinet on the basis of MAZ chassis. The point is about the development of special purpose buses for rescue efforts in case of disasters or other accidents. Grandiscar has already presented new ambulance cars and a mobile laboratory, designed under the order of the State Border Committee of Belarus. The free economic zone Vitebsk was founded in August 1999. At present 38 investment projects are being implemented in the free economic zone. More than 60% of FEZ Vitebsk resident companies are joint ventures and foreign-owned companies that have been set up with assistance of investors from 15 countries, including Germany, Poland, the USA, Czech Republic, the UK, Russia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Israel. Enterprises specializing in mechanical engineering, food industry, chemical, fuel, and light industries constitute the foundation of the industrial potential of the free economic zone Vitebsk.

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