http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1009/42/375168.htm
Alexei Nikolsky / RIA-NOvosti
Putin on Friday visiting the Krylov Institute, where he promised to
triple orders of state ships in the next six years.
Putin Pledges Support for Shipbuilders
10 March 2009
ST. PETERSBURG -- Russia plans to triple orders of state ships in the
next six years to 680 billion rubles ($19 billion) and build a new shipyard
near the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk, Industry and Trade Minister Viktor
Khristenko said Friday.
The state's spending should help shipbuilders boost their share of
contracts in Russia to 28 percent, from 8 percent last year, and cushion
slowing sales to companies, Khristenko said at a government meeting in St.
Petersburg.
Gazprom and Rosneft will order 307 vessels over the next two decades,
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at the meeting. Another 791 transport and
265 fishing vessel orders are expected by 2030, he said.
The government plans to complete the formation of United Shipbuilding
Corporation this month, hoping that the state-run enterprise can compete with
foreign companies better than individual Russian shipyards, Putin said.
United Shipbuilding should focus on niche products, such as floating
nuclear power stations, ice-class vessels and ships transporting commodities,
Putin said.
The state's support program for the shipbuilding industry may total 136
billion rubles to 2016, Putin said.
One of the projects designed to help the industry may be the building of
a shipyard near Primorsk, which would cost more than 40 billion rubles in
total, Khristenko said.
The government revised its industry sales forecast to 170 billion rubles
this year from 180 billion rubles, Khristenko said.
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