OREANDA-NEWS. On 9 September 2009 was announced, that by the Order of Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, investment project of Segezha Pulp and Paper Mill, Inc., (Investlesprom group of companies) the Polar Bear program of development, reconstruction and modernization of Segezha Pulp and Paper Mill is included in the list of priority investment projects in the field of forest exploitation.

The project provides creation of modern hi-tech production of cellulose due to reconstruction and expansion of capacities of Segezha Pulp and Paper Mill up to 845 thousand tons a year. There will be founded the largest and the most advanced enterprise in the world producing bleached softwood pulp and bleached hardwood pulp of birch, and about 2,5 million cubic metres of additional wood stock will be involved in processing annually.

The important characteristics of the project are complex processing of all wood stock and reduction of ecological loads on the region. The project will allow the Northwest of Russia to depart from the raw-material orientation, as the Polar Bear provides fivefold increase in the added cost of timber prepared in the region.

The planned volume of investments makes almost 1 billion euros, rough time for completion of construction and reconstruction is the year 2013.

– Inclusion of the Polar Bear on the list of on the list of all-Russian priority projects may be regarded as a state's recognition of strategically true and economically proved by Investlesprom task of complex forest exploitation, organization of hi-tech and competitive processing of raw material, – director for communication with authorities and public organizations of Investlesprom Joint-Stock Company Alexander Boikov has noted. – I believe, the status priority will give the project a new impulse, will become an additional guarantee of its successful and duly implementation.