President of Tatarstan, R. Minnikhanov, on Monday attended the official opening in Kazan’s Kirov district of a new flexible polyurethane foam production facility owned by the Egida group.
The Egida group has operated on the Russian market since 1992, its core business being sales of materials for soft furniture, mattress and leather items manufacturers, as well as the auto and aircraft industries. In 2000, the group put into operation a foam rubber line in Kazan. The new polyurethane production facility set to work on Monday is the largest in Russia, able to manufacture 16 thousand tonnes of products a year, which capacity may be increased.
Speaking at the ceremony, President of Tatarstan noted the importance of the event, enhancing that the end products was made from petrochemical materials recovered in Tatarstan.
“It is clear that the market is very competitive and complex. However, the pace that has been seen, the people who work here are competitive within the entire state,” R. Minnikhanov. He congratulated and thanked all those involved in the project, adding that projects like that should be more.
The investment in the new facility has been 1.15 billion roubles, the bulk, about 800 million roubles, provided by the Alfa Bank.
“It was very nice to see that something good has been done here,” Alfa Bank deputy board chairman, Oleg Sysuev, said at the opening ceremony. “We talk about our economy’s oil dependency all the time, and it is rightfully considered one of its major flaws. But here, in Tatarstan, we see that oil money is disbursed very competently and that ordinary people stand to benefit from it. I was a mayor once, and my mayoral heart is envious of the residents of Kazan and the republic,” Oleg Sysuev said.
“We are independent from oil,” President of Tatarstan commented on his words. “It is our national welfare. We need to process oil, make petrochemical material and then end products. The oil industry is our foundation,” he said.
Rustam Minnikhanov in conclusion presented state awards to Egida officials and plant workers.
