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International construction exhibition opens in Minsk

A four-day international building materials and equipment exhibition, Budprahres 2010, was opened in Minsk on September 7.

Participating in the exhibition are 420 companies from 12 countries, namely, Belarus, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine.

The event also features a joint company named Belinte-Roba, the general designer of a development project for the area adjacent to the National Library in eastern Minsk.

Manager Hanna Patsey told BelaPAN that the company suggests developing a “city inside the city” with a tall building, a “beacon,” in the center. An elementary school and kindergartens, shopping and entertainment centers, a sports center, eating establishments, a multi-level parking garage and an aquatics center will appear there, she said.

There will be fountains that will be used as ice rinks in the winter, Ms. Patsey noted.

Two residential houses that are part of the project are expected to be put into operation by the end of the year. The construction of two more houses will be completed in August 2011.

“The further focus of the project will be the construction of the shopping center and high-rise buildings,” Ms. Patsey said. The beacon building will have only 35 stories, half as many as previously projected. Surrounding buildings will have 25 stories.

The manager said that would-be apartments and offices had already been put on sale, priced at $1,500 and $2,000, respectively, on average.