Moscow: Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg plans to renovate a money-losing, Soviet-era synthetic oil plant as President Dmitry Medvedev demands the rich invest in towns left impoverished by dying industries.
Vekselberg's Renova Group is set to bid for the state's stake in the factory at Slantsy near Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg, said Yakov Tesis, the holding company's director for the project. Russia's 16th richest man would spend $40 million immediately to get the plant producing oil again, Tesis said. Russia's billionaires doubled in number last year, while unemployment rose as high as 9.4 per cent and the economy shrank the most since 1991. Political leaders are pushing the wealthy to invest in what are known as "mono-cities" from the Stalin era, where a single company would provide most of the jobs and housing and fund schools. Such struggling towns are home to about 12 per cent of Russia's 142 million people, according to the Independent Institute for Social Policy.
"Today this asset is loss-making, there are thousands of people there, and entering this project, you take on serious social responsibilities," Tesis said.
