Alabuga Special Economic Zone
The Alabuga Special Economic Zone was established on December 21, 2005, in Yelabuzhsky District, the Republic of Tatarstan. With an area of 20 km2 Alabuga is the largest special economic zone of industrial type in Russia. The SEZ Alabuga is located 210 km away from the city of Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, and 1028 km from Moscow.
History
In 1985 in the area between Yelabuga, Naberezhnye Chelny and Mendeleevsk cities the groundworks for a huge Soviet tractor plant were started. Along with the tractor plant the engine, fuel equipment, turbochargers, foundry and forging and machine tool producing factories were planned to be built at the site.
In 1988 due to the unstable political and economical situation the decision to establish a production line of small midget cars instead of tractors was taken.
By 1991 the access roads and railway, gas pipeline, boiler plant, water pipe were built. However the collapse of the Soviet Union made this project never to be implemented as planned.
In July 2005 the Federal Law on the Special economic zones # 116 was passed and by that time the Minister of the Economical Development of Russian Federation German Gref arrived to the site to check the development level of the site and the availability of existing infrastructure to allocate new industrial factories.
The decision to found the first Russian SEZ of the industrial type in Tatarstan Republic was supported by the fact that this region is one of the most economically developed and politically stable in Russia. Located in the heart of a massive industrial area, where oil extraction (Tatneft), crude refining, petrochemistry (Nizhnekamskneftekhim, Kazanorgsintez, Nizhnekamskshina and others), machinery manufacturing (KamAZ, Sollers) and aircraft production are well developed.
In 2006 the infrastructural construction works on the territory of the SEZ were started.
On the 7th of June, 2007 Minister Mentor of Singapore Republic Lee Kwan Yew, who is rightfully considered to be a father of Singapore economic miracle visited SEZ “Alabuga”. He noted: “I am surprised by the significant progress of SEZ in just one year. It shows promise of growth and progress”.
Grand Opening of the SEZ Alabuga was held on 20 November 2007. The ceremony was attended by the Chairman of the Russian Federation Government Sergey Ivanov, the Minister of Trade and Economics Elvira Nabiullina, President of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaymiev and Prime Minister of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov.
On 28 May 2008, the Chairman of the Russian Federation Government Vladimir Putin visited the SEZ. He noted: "The Special Economic Zone was created and started working in two and a half years with all the previously achieved agreements being realized here defacto".
SEZ description
The primary aim of the SEZ Alabuga is to aid development of the economy of the Republic of Tatarstan in particular and of the Russian Federation in general by means of establishing favourable conditions for both national and international companies to invest in commercial manufacture.
The SEZ Alabuga is located in the center of the Kama economic region with a population of over 1 million people. The SEZ is managed by Regional Administration of the Federal Agency for the Management of the Special Economic Zones in the Republic of Tatarstan. The Head of regional body is Igor Nosov. The SEZ Alabuga provides preferences and incentives of different kinds for its residents.
Location advantages
- Federal highway M7 crosses the territory of Russia next to the SEZ
- A 5 km railway branch and a railway terminal are located on the territory of the SEZ. The nearest railway station is 45 km from the SEZ.
- The closest international airport “Begishevo” is 45 km away from the SEZ “Alabuga”.
- There are river ports of the river-sea type next to the SEZ “Alabuga”.
Customs infrastructure
The process of customs infrastructure facilities development started in 2006 and came to an end in 2007. Customs infrastructure consists of:
- Checkpoint with 4x2 driving lanes
- Parking for 100 and 50 trucks
- Unit of cargo and vehicle profound audit
- Unit of container profound audit
- Railway
- Railway terminal
- Container terminal
Yelabuga customs post started its work in 2008 in the administrative-business centre of the SEZ “Alabuga”. It allows residents to register their goods in 24 hours.
Business infrastructure
The administrative business center provides all the necessary business infrastructure facilities that residents may need–banks, post office, first aid station, restaurant, gymnasium, etc. Offices of 16 state regulatory bodies are also located in the Administrative-Business Centre of the SEZ "Alabuga" in the frameworks of the "One Stop Shop" system. The list of the bodies was formed according to the survey of the needs of the SEZ residents. The SEZ “Alabuga” is the first industrial site having such system in Russia.
Industrial infrastructure
The companies investing in the SEZ get prepared sites with all the necessary utilities. Each territory module is supplied with electricity, heat supply, gas, water, high performance lines, etc. It provides all the conditions for industrial activity on the territory of the SEZ “Alabuga”.
Tax preferences
Title Taxation rate Taxation rate for residents Profit tax 20% 15,5% Property tax 2,2% 0% Land tax 1,5% 0% Transport tax From USD 0.3 to USD 3.8 per hp 0 USD per hp
Customs incentives
The "Free Customs Zone" regime has been launched on the territory of the SEZ since the April 2008. Now it is allowed to import modern high-tech equipment to the territory of the SEZ "Alabuga" with no payment of import duty & VAT. Because of the regime, the "Sollers" company has saved up more than 500 mln. rubles so far. A customs terminal (amounts to 6 hectare) is equipped with high-tech equipment that minimizes the time duration of customs procedures.
Residents
There are 8 registered residents of the SEZ "Alabuga" now. They represent full-circle car manufacturing and the production of autocomponents, polymer processing, and the production of construction materials.
- Sollers-Yelabuga–automotive production
- Severstalavto-Isuzu - automotive production
- Rockwool-Volga - nonflammable heat insulation materials manufacturing
- Air Liquide Alabuga–technical gases production
- Polymatiz - polypropylene goods production
- P-D Tatneft-Alabuga Steklovokno - fiberglass manufacturing
- Engineering Equipment Factory - climate system elements production
- Septal - production of equipment for local canalization systems
Meanwhile, the field of the potential residents is not bounded just by these industries listed above. The industrial orientation of the SEZ "Alabuga" includes also a chemical industry, a machine-tool construction, agricultural processing, pharmaceuticals, the production of the components for aircraft industry, woodworking, the food production etc.
Development strategy
According to the development strategy of the SEZ "Alabuga", 40 residents are expected to be registered in the SEZ until 2012. That will result in 16,000 new jobs and the attraction of some USD 2 bln. investments to the national economy.