Azerbaijan, Baku, March 19 / Trend /
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has today laid the foundation of a shipyard, meeting the modern standards, to be located near the Heydar Aliyev Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory.
The Azerbaijani President participated in the ceremony, AzerTaj state news agency reported.
The President viewed a model of the facility which will repair nearly 100 ships per year.
The construction, estimated to cost between $300-350 million, is scheduled to complete in 3 years.
A relevant Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Baku last November by Azerbaijani State Oil Company (SOCAR), Azerbaijan Investment Company (AIC) and Singaporean Keppel Offshore & Marine, one of the largest offshore and marine groups in the world.
Under the Memorandum, 65 percent of the shares in the facility belong to SOCAR, 25 percent to AIC and 10 percent to Keppel Offshore & Marine.
The facility is estimated to create up to 2,000 jobs.
The President spoke to the groundbreaking ceremony, saying the facility, the only one of its kind in the Caspian region, would make crucial contribution to boosting shipbuilding industry in Azerbaijan.
Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yong-Boon Yeo addressed the ceremony.