Minsk, 22 November 2005 -Specialists of housing and communal services of the Minsk region, dealing with wood waste collection, treatment, transportation and burning, are being trained this week in the framework of a UNDP project on Biomass Energy.

This week-long course is the first such training organized in Belarus. Its programme aims at enhancing the capacity of Belarusian enterprises in the efficient use of home-grown fuels as a more environment-friendly alternative to traditional fossil fuels and peat.

“This UNDP project provides a unique opportunity to specialists dealing with energy matters at the enterprise level to get acquainted with international best practices in wood waste utilization and to get practical skills which take into account Belarusian specifics,” UNDP Programme Officer, Dmitri Golubovski, said.

As part of the training programme, the participants will visit a project demonstration site – a boiler house belonging to the production and commercial wood-working company «VOLAT-1» located in Uzda, in the Minsk region.

Similar training courses will be regularly organized for professionals from other regions of Belarus as part of this UNDP project.

The Project “Biomass Energy for Heating and Hot Water Supply in Belarus” is a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme, Global Environment Facility, Committee on Energy Efficiency and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. The Project launched in September 2003 and scheduled for four years, is financed by the GEF. Total GEF funding amounts to more than three million US dollars.

For further information, please contact Tamara Savanovich, Training Manager, 299-56-91 and 235-82-61, or Vladislav Khilkevich, UNDP Public Information Assistant, 227-38-17.

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