Vitebsk oblast plans three major chip fuel projects

There are plans to implement three major projects to produce chip fuel in the Vitebsk oblast, chief engineer of the Vitebsk manufacturing forestry association Nikolai Privalov told BelTA. In his words, a workshop able to turn out 20,000 compact cubic metres of chip fuel per annum is being set up at the premises of the woodworking workshop of the Gorodok forestry enterprise. Initially the chip fuel will be shipped to boiler houses of the Gorodok region, with plans to supply chip fuel to the neighbouring Shumilino region later. Now the forestry enterprise is busy with territory accomplishment, repairs and purchases of machines. The acquisition of a crush mill will allow turning firewood into chips directly at the manufacturing site and at stockpile sites in the woods nearby. The project is expected to follow manufacturing practices used by a similar enterprise in Vileika. The chip fuel installation is supposed to go online in October. All in all, the project needs over Br2 billion. So far the money is coming from the oblast budget and the Gorodok forestry enterprise. Nikolai Privalov also said, there are plans to implement another two major projects for manufacturing chip fuel in Orsha and Liozno regions. The first one is supposed to be implemented as a Belarusian-Ukrainian joint venture meant to stock chip for Belarusian State District Power Plant. The second project will be a Belarusian-Italian joint venture, which is mainly meant to export chip fuel.