OREANDA-NEWS. October 21, 2010. The Russian Bank for Development and the Bank of Moscow have launched financing of the Project "Basalt-plastic composites for the North of Russia" for creating new construction and composite materials on the basis of industrial production of continuous basalt fibre in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

The Bank of Moscow has concluded an agreement with Basalt Materials Technologies Company (Yakutia) on financing of an innovation project for production of output on the basis of basalt materials. Financing to the sum of 100 million rubles for a period of 6 years is being extended on beneficial terms within the scope of co-operation between the Russian Bank for Development and the Bank of Moscow under the programme "Financing of innovation and modernisation". The overall capital investment in organising the complex of production units within the scope of the project totals 604 million rubles.

Also participating in the financing is the Republican Investment Company, set up with the participation of the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). At later stages, the project may be joined by ROSNANO (the initiators plan to create new types of cement by addition nano-composite materials).

In September 2010, Basalt Materials Technologies Company, the project initiator, received the Grand Prix of the jubilee 10 th Moscow International Innovation and Investment Salon. The experts noted the highly competitive and science-intensive nature of the output based on basalt fibres and the promising introduction into industry of Russian technologies that are more advanced than foreign analogues. The innovativeness of the project is also confirmed by a number of Russian patents and licensing agreements. The innovation project envisages that basalt composites are a highly durable, light and anti-corrosion material. The given output meets the high requirements of resource, energy and heat saving and is usable in a wide range of economic branches, including construction, industry and road-building.

The programme of the Russian Bank for Development "Financing for innovation and modernisation" is designed to provide accessible and long-term resources to innovative small and medium-sized businesses.

The Bank of Moscow is one of the Russian Bank for Development’s biggest partners in implementing the Programme for financial support for small and medium-sized business. As a result of the co-operation between the two banks, credits have been extended to 1169 small and medium-sized businesses in 53 Russian regions, such as Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Vologda, Kemerovo, Sverdlovsk, and Tula Regions, the Perm, Krasnodar and Krasnoyarsk Territories, the Republics of Tatarstan, Buryatia, Karelia, North Ossetia, Sakha and other constituent entities of the Russian Federation.