China is ready to invest USD 1 billion in the construction of a new plant on the production of potash fertilizers in Kalush (Ivano-Frankivsk region, western Ukraine).

Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Governor Mykhailo Vyshyvaniuk said at a press conference that a meeting of the Ukrainian-Chinese joint intergovernmental commission would take place on Wednesday and expressed hope that an agreement on the construction of a new plant would be signed at the meeting.

Vyshyvaniuk noted that China simultaneously proposed resolving the problem of sinkholes in Kalush with the help of ash from the Burshtyn energy island.

Thus, the governor said that it would be possible to completely solve the environmental problems of Kalush.

Ukraine currently imports potash fertilizers from Belarus every year at USD 250 million.

Previously, a potash fertilizer plant operated in Kalush, which was created on the basis of the Oriana potash fertilizer plant to develop the Kalush-Holinsky deposit of potassium salts and their complex processing. In October 2001, the plant ceased operation.

UKRINFORM