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Czech company to build logistics center near Polish border

Czech company Metrostav will build a large logistics center close to the Polish border.

Speaking at a time-capsule laying ceremony earlier this week, Yury Karol, director general of Belarus` state-owned customs brokerage company Belmytnyaservice, which has contracted Metrostav, said that freight would be distributed, tagged, packed and stored in the center near Brest.

"It [the center] will also deal with transport flows, look for vehicles for our customers and provide forwarding services," Mr. Karol said. "Russian and Kazakh partners are already showing interest in this center, so we are confident that it will be in demand in the Customs Union [of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.]"

The center will be built under a program to develop Belarus` logistics system.

The cost of the project is estimated at 318 billion rubels (some $36 million), with 122 billion rubels to be provided by Belmytnyaservice, Mr. Karol said.

The center is expected to pay off in nine and a half years.

It will include a storage facility covering an area of 15,000 square meters, an 83-room hotel, a 64-seat cafe, an office building, a service station for vehicles, and a parking lot for automobiles and tractor trailers.

More than 300 new jobs are expected to be created by the project.

Over 2.5 million tons of freight is expected to go through the center annually, Mr. Karol said. //BelaPAN