Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Aug. 10 / Trend D.Azizov /
Uzbekistan and the Omani Investment Fund will establish a joint venture by late 2010 to build a cement plant in the Surkhandarya region with an annual design capacity of 1.7 million tons.
The Uzbekneftegaz National Holding Company and Uzstroymateriali will open the venture.
"The Omani Investment Fund will appoint a company to serve as a co-founder on behalf of Oman in the near future," an Uzbek governmental source told Trend.
As previously reported, Uzbekneftegaz and the Omani Investment Fund signed an agreement in March 2010 outlining the basic principles of forming a joint venture to build the plant.
The plant's construction will cost $200-$250 million. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2011 and end in 2014. The company will produce cement for the oil and gas industry.
Project financing will be provided by the Omani Investment Fund and the Uzbek cosponsors.
A state program to modernize the infrastructure of the construction materials production industry envisages building six cement plants worth $1.415 billion by 2014.
Plans also include building two plants with a preliminary design capacity of 1 million tons and 1.7 million tons per year in Surkhandarya, a plant with a capacity of 2 million tons per year in Jizzakh, two plants with a capacity of 1.5 million tons per year in Kashkadarya and Karakalpakstan and a plant with a capacity of 800,000 tons per year in Tashkent.
There are currently six cement plants with a total installed capacity of 7 million tons in Uzbekistan. The largest are Kyzylkumcement (3.08 million tons), Akhangarancement (1.74 million tons) and Kuvasaytsement (920,000 tons).
Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at: [email protected]