Bashkiria plans to attract up to 800 million rubles to develop two Geoparks infrastructure

In Bashkiria, it is planned to attract up to 800 million rubles of investments to develop the infrastructure of two Geoparks, "Yangan-Tau" and "Toratau". It is assumed that at the expense of private investors, about 40 new infrastructure facilities will appear in Geoparks. This was announced by the Prime Minister of the Government RB Andrei Nazarov.

"It is necessary to legislate the term "Geopark resident". A mechanism for obtaining this status by investors is being worked out now," said Andrei Nazarov.

He also added that after being included in the register, the investor would have access to the appropriate preferences: simplified registration of a legal entity, obtaining land plots without tenders and preferential regimes, including subsidizing the interest rate, collateral fund, grant support.

According to the First Deputy Prime Minister RB - Minister of Economic Development and Investment Policy Rustam Muratov, as early as next year, within the framework of the World Folkloriada, which will be held for the first time in Bashkiria, the task has been set to create three ethnic villages: Caravanserai in Salavatsky region, Tash-Asty in the Gafuriysky district and Shikhan in the Ishimbaysky district.

"Now, a concept is being developed to allocate grants to compensate for part of the costs. The possibility of providing subsidies to investors for tourist infrastructure facilities is also being considered," Rustam Muratov said.

The regional government plans to create a complex of facilities within the boundaries of geoparks and adjacent territories. A list of 70 objects has already been formed, and mechanisms for their financing have been determined.

The development of Geoparks under the auspices of UNESCO has been carried out since 2004. Today, the Global Network of Geoparks includes 161 sites in 44 countries. In several constituent entities of the Russian Federation, including the Republic of Bashkortostan, decisions have been made to create Geoparks. In the Republic of Bashkortostan, on October 18, 2017, by order of the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Yangan-Tau Geopark was established. On December 12, 2018, by the decree of the Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Toratau Geopark was created. Currently, only the CIS countries, only the Yangan-Tau Geopark, is included in the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network.