ROSTOV-ON-DON, November 5 (RIA Novosti) - Coca-Cola Company said on Thursday it was delaying the launch of its factory in south Russia until 2010 over problems with the infrastructure and critical remarks from the country's construction supervisory authority.

The launch of Coca-Cola Hellenic in the Rostov Region, whose construction began in 2007, was initially scheduled for 2008 but was subsequently delayed several times without any explanations for the postponement.

"The launch was scheduled for late 2009 but new circumstances have emerged and now the factory's launch and the commencement of the rollout of commercial products have been postponed until next year," Coca-Cola HBC Eurasia spokeswoman Tamara Remeta said.

Remeta declined to give any exact timeframe for the launch of the $120 million factory, but added that Coca-Cola, the world's largest producer of soft drinks and beverage products, intended to launch the plant as soon as possible.

Remeta said that apart from the critical remarks from the Russian construction watchdog, which contractors needed to eliminate before late November, some technical problems had also emerged.

"In particular, in the process of the construction of industrial sewage purification facilities and storm drains, the problem of rising ground waters had emerged which has now been solved," she said.

The spokeswoman also said there were problems with equipping the engineering supply systems but added that the factory was 90-95% ready.

The Coca-Cola factory in the Rostov region will feature three production lines with a capacity of 450 million liters a year. The factory's capacity can be further expanded to roll out more than 600 million liters a year.