Belarusian Belzarubezhstroy now makes cement-bonded particleboards
KRICHEV, 6 October (BelTA) – The Belarusian civil engineering company ZAO Belzarubezhstroy opened an enterprise in Krichev, Mogilev Oblast on 5 October. The enterprise is designed to make cement-bonded particleboards for the Belarusian civil engineering industry, BelTA has learned.
Taking part in the opening ceremony were Belarusian Architecture and Construction Minister Anatoly Cherny, Belzarubezhstroy Director General Vitaly Bondarik, and representatives of the Austrian company VST Building Technologies, which is a partner of the Belarusian company and an investor in the project.
The new manufacturing division uses premises of the former Krichev meatpacking factory with the land plot as large as about 17ha. The administrative and manufacturing premises have been repaired and reconstructed. Imported equipment has been installed. The enterprise will make cement-bonded particleboards using the process flows developed by VST Building Technologies. The new technology boasts high speed and quality of construction processes, energy effectiveness of constructed objects, and wide geographical deployment.
The Belarusian Architecture and Construction Minister stressed that the opening of the enterprise represents a truly groundbreaking event for the civil engineering industry of the oblast and the country. The sign to commemorate the launch of the construction process was put up at the site three years ago. In the period imported materials were used to build homes in Belarus. “With cement-bonded particleboards of our own we will be able to greatly reduce the cost of residential housing construction. We will be able to build more homes and export more construction materials,” said Anatoly Cherny.
The enterprise’s construction has been prompted by the rapid pace of housing and industrial construction in Belarus as well as the need to find new ways to modernize the civil engineering industry and reduce prime costs. With VST Building Technologies’ assistance divisions to make sandwich-type panels have been created in Brest, Mogilev, and Bobruisk. However, Belarus has had to import cement-bonded particleboards to make the panels until now. The new enterprise will satisfy the home market’s demand for the new construction material. Apart from that, over 25% of the cement-bonded particleboards the enterprise makes will be exported to the Commonwealth of Independent States and the European Union.
In turn, Belzarubezhstroy Director General Vitaly Bondarik noted that the project to build the enterprise was a historical one for the company. “We hope that the site will become kind of a springboard for advancing joint operations and implementing new construction projects in Belarus and abroad together with our partner — the Austrian company VST Building Technologies AG. We expect a successful future and intend to implement a number of joint projects in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Algeria, and other countries. The enterprise should become a successful example of a new construction formation in Belarus,” said the executive.
As part of the opening ceremony two semi-trailer trucks bearing the new merchandise have been dispatched to the European Union and a Belarusian civil engineering company.
Belzarubezhstroy used its own resources and foreign investments to build the enterprise. The enterprise will create 200 jobs to reach the designed output capacity of 60,000m3 per annum. In the future the output capacity may be increased up to 100,000m3 per annum. The construction of the enterprise to make cement-bonded particleboards is the first step of the program sketched out by the Belarusian and Austrian partners. A division to make VST sacrificial formwork will be the next step.
The choice of the location of the enterprise to make cement-bonded particleboards was not accidental. The new enterprise is close to the forestry enterprises that supply timber and to the Krichev cement mill (7km), which is the main source of cement. The locally available raw materials will allow the enterprise to reduce prime costs while taking care of the government’s import substitution program. In turn, the factory’s proximity to the Belarusian-Russian border and the two rail lines going in the eastern direction will allow minimizing the logistic cost of export to Russia.
ZAO Belzarubezhstroy is one of Belarus’ top construction and investment companies. It was founded in 2007 for the sake of exporting Belarusian civil engineering services.
The Austrian company VST Building Technologies AG is a European leader in developing civil engineering technologies. It possesses an innovative construction technology reliant on sacrificial formwork.