Major projects can make Siberia donor of federal budget - envoy

ULAN-UDE, July 5 (Itar-Tass) - The implementation of major investment projects, now underway in Siberia, can make it financially self-sufficient "and in the near future become a donor of the federal budget," Russian president's envoy to the Siberian Federal District, Anatoly Kvashnin, said on Friday. The envoy is now on a working trip in the federal district.

Focusing on the most lucrative investment projects, he mentioned the
development of the oil-and-gas and timber sectors in the Krasnoyarsk
region, the development of petrochemical industry in the Irkutsk region,
the construction of a railway to Tuva with a further development of
mineral resources and raw materials of the republic, as well as the
program for a comprehensive development of the Baikal region.

Kvashnin ended on Friday a two-day working trip to Buryatia, where he
chaired a session on major investment projects and the development of
mineral resources of Eastern Siberia as well as the development of energy
capacities of the region.

The envoy visited the Khiagda uranium deposit, which according to the
International Atomic Energy Agency is the most attractive for investments
in Russia. Its reserves are estimated at 100,000 tons of uranium. He also
visited the Ozernoye ore field, the approved reserves of which are
estimated at 128 million tons of ore.