OREANDA-NEWS. On 03 July 2008 was announced, that June 26, 2008. . – Today on the former location of the waste bank during the solemn cornerstone laying ceremony Makiyivka Deputy Mayor Mrs. Kotlyarenko and METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine Managing Director Axel Hluchy officially launched the construction of the third in Donetsk METRO wholesale store on Terykonna street in Makiyivka.

With this new project total investment of METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine into the region exceeds UAH 410 Mio. Apart from UAH 190 Mio of direct investment and over 300 new jobs the construction of the store in Makiyivka helps to solve the burning ecological issue. The new METRO Cash & Carry store grows on the former location of the waste bank.

Only in May 2008 the 6.30 ha land plot located a 30 meters high waste bank. Within a month and a half the general contractor the Group of companies GERC demolished the waste bank utilizing over 500 000 cubic meters of earth, of which 360 000 cubic meters have been used to create the foundation of the store.

Planned to open in autumn 2008 the new METRO Cash & Carry store of 14 000 square meters and a net sales area of 9 000 square meters will offer its professional customers an assortment of over 28 000 food and non-food products providing an efficient purchasing solution under one roof at favorable wholesale prices.

Sourcing over 90% of its food and non-food products from over 1 200 Ukrainian producers, distributors and importers METRO Cash & Carry already cooperates with 25 companies from Donetsk region.

"Donetsk region shows rapid economic growth and development of infrastructure.  Being satisfied with the results of the two already operating in Donetsk METRO Cash & Carry stores we have made the decision to build one more in the region. We are pleased that together with the benefits for our customers, who then will have a shorter driving time for purchasing, additional investment into the region and new jobs we are also able to help in resolving an urgent ecological issue" – said Axel Hluchy.

Donetsk region alone has 582 waste banks, of which 147 are located in Makiyivka. The total area covered under waste banks exceeds 5.000 ha . METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine is the first company to undertake such a pilot project in Ukraine. Hence it required substantial analysis and planning from the Group of companies GERC, Donbasstoryizyskaniy, Scientific and Development Company Ekor-Ost as well as the Institute of Research and Science of Mine Rescue and Fire Safety “Respirator”.

Within 5 years of operations in Ukraine METRO Cash & Carry opened 19 wholesale stores: three in Kyiv, two in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa, one in Kharkiv, Lviv, Luhansk, Kryvyi Rih, Poltava, Vinnytsa, Zaporizhya, Chernivtsi, Mykolaiv and Rivne. Having invested into the Ukrainian economy ? 360 Mio METRO Cash & Carry created over 6 100 new jobs for Ukrainians. In 2007 METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine achieved sales of EUR 818 Mio.

METRO Cash & Carry is a sales division of the METRO Group, one of the most important international retailing and trading companies. In 2007, the group reached sales of ? 64.3 billion. The company has a headcount of more than 280,000 employees and operates about 2,500 outlets in 31 countries. The operating business is performed by the sales brands which operate independently in the market: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry, Real hypermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn – market leader in consumer electronics centers in Europe, and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.