Bechtel to Plan Soviet ‘Silicon Valley’

The Soviet Union, seeking to ignite its economy, has hired Bechtel Group Inc. to help convert a government research center near Moscow into a Silicon Valley-style “technopolis” where science is commercialized.

The Soviets hired the San Francisco-based construction and engineering giant for a feasibility study for the new research park, which is planned for Troitsk, 20 miles southwest of Moscow.

“Beyond its similarity to Silicon Valley and other areas I’ve visited, I see Troitsk as the model for my country’s new political and scientific freedom,” said Viacheslav Pis’menny, director of Troitsk’s existing research center.

Bechtel said the Soviets intend to spend $100 million a year to build a network of entrepreneurial, high-technology research communities such as those that exist in Northern California’s Silicon Valley and the Research Park Triangle near Durham, N.C.

Soviet expertise in science and defense technology is well established, said Michael Wakelin, Bechtel’s manager of project development.

“But they have had a notable lack of success in bringing such technologies to market,” said Wakelin. “We hope through this project to not only help create a more commercially conducive environment in terms of laboratories and production facilities, but to help Soviet officials develop links to the worldwide marketplace.”

Bechtel’s study is expected to lead to construction of a conference center, international hotel, U.S.-style housing and recreational facilities with jogging tracks and swimming pools.

Other plans include adding advanced telecommunications facilities and updating the airport. Bechtel hopes to finish most of the work within five years, Wakelin said. It’s too early to estimate the cost of the final project or the financial return to Bechtel, he said.