The government will allocate 24.7 billion rubles (around $811,000) for the next three years for the construction of a new space center in the Russian Far East, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday.
"Late last night or early in the morning, the government decided to allocate over the next three years 24.7 billion rubles for the beginning of the full-scale construction of the Vostochny Space Center," Putin said during a meeting.
He said the allocation is aimed at creating the necessary base and that further steps "will be made after that date."
"I hope that the Vostochny Space Center will become the first civilian national space center, and [will] guarantee full independence of Russia's space activities," he went on.
"It is important that the new space center will provide service for all prospective space projects, including a manned transport system, new generation boosters and future interplanetary complexes," he said.
The construction of the space center will boost the industrial capacity of the Far East and encourage the flow of investment into the region, he said.
Federal Space Agency Roscosmos director Anatoly Perminov said construction work will employ up to 30,000 people.
KOROLYOV (Moscow region), July 19 (RIA Novosti)
