In 1969, the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the USSR Council of Ministers was approved which envisaged construction of a complex of heavy duty truck production plants. Around 70 potential sites to locate the facilities were investigated. Choice went in favor of Naberezhnye Chelny, then a small town on the Kama River. Naberezhnye Chelny was located in the center of the former Soviet Union. The navigable rivers – the Kama River and the Volga River – as well as proximity of the railway line, were central to meeting the logistical needs of the construction site for materials and equipment. Going forward, the location would also allow for the easy shipping of ready-made trucks to customers. The fact that the huge construction company "KamGESenergostroy" existed in the region allowed construction of plant buildings and apartment blocks for prospective KAMAZ employees to be completed.

Workers and engineers, representing more than 70 ethnicities, converged on Naberezhnye Chelny to fuse into a "melting pot" of the construction project personnel. Orders placed by KAMAZ to procure construction materials and equipment were filled by all the ministries and departments, a total of over 2,000 enterprises. Over 100,000 personnel were employed at the construction site itself. The would-be truck plant was being provided with the most state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment by the contemporary standards. More than 700 international firms were among equipment vendors for KAMAZ facilities, including such globally known corporations as Swindell-Dressler, Holcroft, CE-Cast, Ingersoll Rand, Ex-Cello (U.S.A.), Hueller-Hille, Liebherr (West Germany), Morando, Fiat (Italy), Renault (France), Sandvik (Sweden), Komatsu and Hitachi (Japan).