State Duma to review Arctic nature-conservation investment projects bill
© RIA Novosti. Vladimir Baranov

State Duma to review Arctic nature-conservation investment projects bill

State Duma deputy Raisa Karmazina from the United Russia party has submitted a bill aiming to support nature conservation investment projects in the Russian Arctic's ground sections to the lower house of the Russian parliament for consideration, RIA Novosti reports, quoting the State Duma's database.

The document allows taxpayers to add special factors to the main amortization rates; but such factors should not exceed the figure three (3). They can also be added during the amortization of property the research-and-development, modernization and reconstruction expenses of which have been financed during the implementation of nature conservation investment projects.

Any nature conservation investment project should meet a number of pre-conditions. Firstly, any such project should aim to prevent or reduce the scale of economic impact on the environment, to compensate for or reduce the risk of negative ecological consequences, to eliminate such consequences and to restore the environment. Secondly, any such project should be implemented in the Russian Arctic's ground sections. Thirdly, investment volumes should total at least 30 billion rubles and should be disbursed over a period of five years.

The bill's approval "will make it possible to implement major nature conservation investment projects in the Russian Arctic's ground sections as of 2017 and to help introduce new nature conservation technologies and production facilities and help improve the environmental situation. This will facilitate the sustained socioeconomic development of Arctic regions," Karmazina noted.