At present the Kaluga Region is home to the Vorsino, Grabtsevo, Rosva, and Kaluga-Yug industrial parks. The latter three constitute an automobile and automobile parts manufacturing complex organised on the basis of public-private partnerships with funding from Vnesheconombank.
The exhibit organisers told Mr Putin that the aim of the Vorsino industrial park project is to eliminate barriers to the Kaluga Region's economic growth. For example, by building engineering infrastructure and roads, and allocating land. When finished, the 971-hectare complex will house enterprises from various industries. At present, 15 investment agreements worth 1,358,000 euro have been signed as a part of the project.
Mr Putin visited the booth operated by the branch of Samsung Electronics based in Kaluga, Russia. General Director Lee Sang Su told him that the first stage of the company's LCD and plasma television plant opened in September 2008. Lee said that the plant has thus far produced more than one million units and that $200 million has been invested in the project.
The aim of the Kaluga-Yug project is to build a plant to manufacture commercial freight vehicle and construction equipment. The main investors are Volvo Truck and Becema. The project is due to be completed in 2012 and costs a total of 246 million roubles.
The Rosva industrial park, to be completed in 2012, will include a factory operated by the Peugeot Citroën and Mitsubishi Motors alliance of automobile manufacturers. Peugeot Citroën Russia CEO Didier Alton told Mr Putin that the plant, which is located in the southwest of the Kaluga Region, would begin manufacturing vehicles starting in March 2010. The plant's initial capacity will be 45,000 cars per year.
"In 2012, the plant's capacity will be 150,000 cars per year, and in the future, we plan to bring capacity to 300,000 cars per year," said Mr Alton. He noted that despite the financial crisis, the Peugeot-Mitsubishi alliance would continue to implement projects in Russia. Total investment in the project is 470 million euro, and companies from various industries will have operations in the Kaluga Region as part of it, including General Electric and the French company Lafarge Cement.
A Volkswagen plant has been built as part of the Grabtsevo industrial park project, and has manufactured more than 90,000 cars to date. The Volkswagen plant's construction involved more than 25 billion roubles of foreign investment. Magna has already begun construction on a facility to manufacture automobile components.
The Kaluga Region's local government is working with the ESPPRO Group and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on the A-Park project, which will involve the construction of around 100,000 square metres of manufacturing space for automobile component producers. The A-Park project is expected to begin production in June 2010.