A third special economic zone "Green Valley" may be created in Tatarstan

The Ministry of Economic Development of Russia has unveiled a project to create a new industrial and production special economic zone (SEZ) in the Republic of Tatarstan, which will be concentrated on the territory of the Zainsky district. This was reported to Izvestia on March 27 in the press service of the ministry.

"The special Economic Zone is an effective mechanism for creating new points of economic growth in the regions. This is a form of business support involving infrastructure support, preferential taxation, customs and administrative preferences," Alexander Soldatov, acting director of the Regional Development Department of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, was quoted as saying in the press service.

According to him, the creation of the SEZ will make it possible to support a number of high-tech investment projects linked to each other by industrial cooperation and form an entire cluster in the field of biotechnology.

A biotechnological cluster based on deep processing of bast grain will be organized within the framework of the SEZ "Green Valley". The priority list includes six projects for the primary and deep processing of agricultural crops, the production of biofertilizers and chelates of biogenic metals, long and short flax fibers, sorbents, and biologically active additives.

According to the published documents, it is predicted that by the end of 2034, the volume of investments made by potential residents will amount to more than 15 billion rubles, while at least 444 jobs will be created.

The Ministry of Economic Development notes that special economic zones are one of the key drivers of territorial development. The government's infrastructure costs and business benefits are being recouped by increasing taxes and customs payments from residents. Today, there are 57 SEZs in Russia, with 1.2 thousand residents working on their territory. The total amount of announced investments is 6.2 trillion rubles, of which about 2 trillion rubles have already been invested, 83 thousand jobs have been created.

Protected areas: new SEZs will appear in Russia

Why are they necessary and how do they affect the economy?

Earlier, on March 5, the Ministry of Economic Development told Izvestia that SEZ participants were showing significantly higher economic results compared to non-resident companies. It was noted that by the end of 2024, 1,060 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were registered in the SEZ, which is 87% of the total number of residents. In 2023, their combined income exceeded 223 billion rubles. In terms of one enterprise, the average income of a SEZ participant amounted to more than 210 million rubles, which is 10 times higher than the same indicator for non-residents.