OREANDA-NEWS. October 17, 2012. HarvEast is launching Million for Raion, a new social project that will allocate UAH 5m to address the pressing social needs in the areas of HarvEast's operations. By the year-end the holding will invest

UAH 1m into each of Starobeshevo, Telmanovo, Novoazovsk, Pershotravnevy and Volodarskoye Raions in Donetsk Oblast.

The funds are additional to HarvEast's social budget, which annually channels resources to support social infrastructure in the areas of its operations. The resources are distributed among the localities proportionally to the area of land cultivated by the holding.

Simon Chernyavsky, HarvEast Holding's CEO, noted: "In many villages the holding is the only business and therefore the only supporter of local communities. So even in off-years we will help to make our villages better and more comfortable for living."

In Starobeshevo Raion, the project will see a repair of community centres in Styla, Pridorozhnoye and Petrovskoye villages, replacement of roofing in a Solntsevo kindergarten, installation of plastic windows in a Maryanovka kindergarten, and an overhaul of artesian wells in Novoyekaterinovka and Vasilyevka villages.

In Telmanovo Raion, the holding will renew street lighting in Svobodnoye, Dersanovo, Mikhaylovka, Kuznetsovo-Mikhaylovka, Grekovo-Aleksandrovka and Lukovo villages, repair water supply system in Chermalyk and install plastic windows in a Bakhchevik kindergarten.

In Novoazovsk Raion, the funds will be allocated to overhaul a water supply system and install plastic windows in a Primorskoye school.

In Pershotravnevy Raion, HarvEast Holding will fund construction of a mini football pitch, a repair of an outpatient clinic and first-aid station in Yalta settlement, a repair of water supply system in Radianska Ukraina and of roofing in a Kamyshevatoye kindergarten.

In Volodarskoye Raion, the project will see an overhaul of the water supply systems in Kremnevka and Shevchenko and a repair of the medical department in Volodarskoye Raion Hospital.

All works are to be finished by the end of December 2012.

HarvEast Holding is an agricultural holding, which owns and manages assets in Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Cherkassy, Zhitomir Oblasts and the Crimea. The Holding's focus areas include crop raising (wheat, sunflower, barley, permanent grasses and corn) and dairy farming.

HarvEast Holding was established on 10 March 2011 and evolved from the assets previously owned by Ilyich Steel Plant. The overall bank of farmland is around 220,000 hectares and total livestock exceeds 25,000 heads.

The shareholders of HarvEast Holding are the SCM Group and Smart Holding.