Russia's 'Silicon Valley' construction to cost up to $3.9 bln

 

 

MOSCOW, December 25 (RIA Novosti) - The construction of Russia's Skolkovo research hub could cost up to 120 billion rubles ($3.9 billion), the city manager of the Skolkovo fund said on Saturday.

The construction is expected to complete by 2015, Viktor Maslakov said. The costs will be shared equally by the state and private investors.

Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg in charge of the project said in mid-October that Russia would allocate 85 billion rubles ($2.8 billion) from the federal budget for the Skolkovo construction between 2011 and 2013.

The Skolkovo fund's construction council has chosen French and Dutch architectural companies as finalists of a competition to develop the best building concept. The winner will be announced until the end of December.

Skolkovo, dubbed Russia's Silicon Valley, is being built from scratch just 20 kilometers west of Moscow. The hub will focus on five research areas: energy, information technologies, communication, biomedical research and nuclear technologies.

o