KAZAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th May, 2023) The final decision to build an industrial park on the territory of the Azovstal plant in the city of Mariupol has been reached, and the plan will be finalized after demining activities are finished, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin has told Sputnik.
"We believe there should be an industrial park. There were different ideas, but one should understand that there are hundreds of thousands of tonnes of metal at Azovstal alone. And when demining of the territory is finished, it will be necessary to put it in order, it is not small money, it will cost billions (rubles). Thus, the idea of building an industrial park there is present for now. Now we are conducting a planned demining. By the time everything is demined, the plan for the development of Azovstal as a future industrial park will be ready," Khusnullin said on the sidelines of the 14th International economic forum "Russia - Islamic World: KazanForum."
Russian Deputy Minister for Construction, Housing and Utilities Valery Leonov said last week that the decision to build an industrial park on the territory of Azovstal had not been reached yet.
Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, after the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR and LPR) appealed for help. On May 20, 2022, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the city of Mariupol had been fully put under control after taking control over the territory of the Azovstal plant, where the Ukrainian forces from the nationalist Azov battalion (designated as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia) had been blocked since April 21.
