On November 22, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. The project for the creation of a powerful raw material base for the fur and leather and footwear industry was considered today at a meeting of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, reports BELTA correspondent. According to the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Alexander Kosinets, within the next few years, for the development of the fur and leather and footwear industry of the region, it is planned to build a large plant for processing leather raw materials and producing leather in the amount of 1 million sq.m per year on the territory of the Vitebsk Fur Combine, and to increase the production capacities for footwear production at the joint limited liability companies "Marko" and "Belvest" to 6-6.5 million pairs per year each. In order to coordinate the work of organizations in the fur and leather and footwear industry, holdings will be created on the basis of the latter - the fur and leather and footwear "Marko Company" and the footwear "Belvest Company". In order to increase production capacities, it is planned to create new production facilities for each of these companies. Sites for construction have been offered to the heads of "Marko" and "Belvest". "Along with this, you can also use the ready-made base," the Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee suggested to Nikolai Martynov and Yuri Sumaneev. He named the vacant areas of the Novopolotsk enterprise "Izmeritel" and the Vitebsk enterprise "Evistor" as possible options. "When creating new production facilities, the Regional Executive Committee is ready to help with construction and installation work, while the task of purchasing the necessary equipment and attracting investments for these purposes will fall on you," noted Alexander Kosinets, setting the task to implement these projects by July 1, 2014. Significant attention was paid to the creation of a powerful raw material base for this industry during the discussion of the project. It is planned that organizations of the region will supply hides of cattle and small ruminants, pigs, and fur-bearing animals. For this purpose, it is planned to build 21 sheep-breeding farms (for 100 thousand heads) and 15 fur-bearing animal farms in the districts of the region. To provide the latter with feed, fish farming will receive additional development. The total investment volume required for the creation of the raw material base is preliminarily estimated at over Br3 trillion.