OREANDA-NEWS. April 26, 2010. Zakhar Smushkin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ilim Group, had a meeting in Irkutsk with Dmitry Mezentsev, Governor of the Irkutsk Oblast.

During the meeting, the management of Ilim Group announced the launch of construction and installation work within the framework of the project involving construction of a new pulp mill in Bratsk.

The largest project of the company's investment program in this region was finally approved by the Board of Directors of Ilim Group at the beginning of April 2010. It involves investments of around 700 million dollars. Engineering and construction work under the project is to be started this spring and in 2012 the new pulp mill will start manufacturing high-quality softwood pulp for which there is strong demand in the market place. In total Bratsk will produce 1 million tons of softwood and hardwood pulp to be sold primarily in China.

After the implementation of this investment project, the volume of marketable product manufactured by the companies of Ilim Group in the Irkutsk Oblast will increase up to 1.7 million tons per year. Wood processing efficiency will grow by 20% and the amount of taxes paid to the consolidated budget of the Irkutsk Oblast will increase by 70%. The Bratsk Branch of Ilim Group will create 250 new jobs for qualified personnel and will provide jobs at the industrial site for up to 1000 construction workers and contractors during the implementation of the project. The Company will need additional 800,000 cubic meters of wood to fully satisfy its manufacturing demands.

At the meeting, the Governor of the Irkutsk Oblast was briefed on the key performance results of the Group companies in the Irkutsk Oblast in 2009. The companies of Ilim Group manufactured 1,419,000 tons of pulp and paper products, including 727,000 tons in Bratsk and 691,000 tons in Ust-Ilimsk, with a reduced environmental impact.

In addition to investment plans, the Governor was informed of the amount of social investments planned for 2010. They will go up as compared to 2009 to over RUR 62 million.