Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 May / Trend corr. E.Ismayilov / The Azerbaijani Ministry of Economic Development continues its negotiations with the French company Lafarge on a project to construct a concrete plant in Azerbaijan, stated Deputy Minister of Economic Development Mikail Jabbarov.
According to Jabbarov, Lafarge was proposed to develop limestone field in the Azerbaijani eastern region (Tovuz), but the company stated that it wanted to develop the field near Absheron.
"However, no feasible fields were found in Absheron at that time under the state property. The work in this direction is still in process," Jabbarov said. There are no free plots in Absheron with large limestone reserves. Minimum100mln tons of limestone and clay is needed to begin the concrete production.
There is no 100mln tons raw material field in Garadag region where Lafarge is planning to construct the plant. Therefore, Ministry of Economic Development has proposed to explore the fields in Gobustan.
At present, Lafarge is expecting that Azerbaijan will approve presence of reserves in Gobustan to launch the research work. The company wants to be sure about the technical and juridical capabilities of further work to produce concrete plant in Garadag by using the reserves of Gobustan fields.
The main demand of Lafarge is to construct the plant 100 or 150km far from Baku, as the key outlet to use concrete and building materials are Baku and Absheron.
Another problem of Lafarge is the volume of reserves in the Kuzdak field in Garadag region of Baku may be less. From other side, according to the forecasts of the Ministry, there are minor reserves in Gobustan but no approved reserves; therefore there is a need to hold geological exploring in this area.
About 90mln tons of clay and limestone are necessary for Lafarge concrete plant. The cost of the project was €100mln or €150mln taking into consideration the former place of plant construction. The production capacity of the plant is 1mln ton. The Azerbaijani Investment Company (AIC) will have 20% share and other part will be provided by Lafarge.
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