The Nord Timber Company NTC plans to start next month a new line for deep timber processing, worth about $1 million. NTC's capacities occupy altogether a territory of 1.2 hectare within the settlement of Podporozhye in the Leningrad Region. The company can process monthly about 660 cubic metres of wood, and it turns out planks, beams, deal boards, tongues, chipboards, etc. Besides the new line, NTC has acquired the band-saw and edge-cutting machines and the drying chambers to a total sum of about $900 000, and this investment is to repay in a year and a half. NTC is also changing the appearance of the factory buildings: new structures are being erected instead of old wooden hangars. The modernization programme is split into three phases. According to plan, the factory's monthly capacity is to be increased first up to 1 180 cubic metres, and then up to 1 151 cubic metres. The first phase is scheduled for commissioning in February, and the second one - in June 2003.