Donetsk, Aug 1 — DAN. Another four companies from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics have been certified as Free Economic Zone participants, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on Tuesday.

“According to investment declarations, the industrial sector in the new regions will get a powerful impulse to restore its production potential. More than 25 billion rubles will be invested to create new enterprises and modernize the existing ones, ” the Russian government press service quoted Khusnullin as saying.

A FEZ participant plans to restore the capacities of seven companies in the Donbass Republics and increase their workforce to 23,000. Preferences have been granted to six investors as of today, he said.

Investors will restore the output of rolled steel, cast iron and structural steel in Yenakiyevo and fluxing limestone production in Komsomolskoye. Three Makeyevka companies will boost the production of reinforced steel, rolled wire, coke, tar and ammonium sulphate.

The Territorial Development Fund which is the Free Economic Zone managing company has approved a DPR water bottling project.

In late June, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a federal law on launching a free economic zone in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republic and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The FEZ will operate until January 31, 2050.*jk