Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Feb. 22 / Trend D.Azizov /
The China Development Bank (CDB) will provide a loan of $ 110 million to the Rahnamo-Nur Uzbek-American joint venture to build the cement plant in Karakalpakstan (autonomous republic in north-western Uzbekistan), General Manager of Uzstroymateriali Akbar Mukhiddinov told reporters on Friday.
According to him, the U.S. bank JP Morgan has issued a guarantee for the Chinese loan. The loan agreement with the CDB will be signed in March or April.
The Chinese CNTIC (China National Technical Import & Export Corporation) will be the general contractor for construction of the plant. The contract with the company will be signed within a month, Mukhitdinov said.
Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014.
The Rahnamo-Nur Uzbek-American Joint Venture started construction of the cement plant in Karakalpakstan with design capacity of one million tons per year in 2009.
75 percent of the authorized fund of the venture is owned by American Platineum Partners, and 25 percent - by the Uzbek side.
Financing of the construction of the plant, totaling $ 128 million, was to be done through the equity of the joint venture and loans.
In 2012, the joint venture suspended construction of the plant due to funding problems. To date, the project has disbursed nearly $ 20 million.
Uzbekistan has six cement plants with a total capacity of 6.5 million tons.
The largest cement plants in Uzbekistan are of Kizilkumcement with production capacity of 3.08 million tons, Akhangarancement with capacity of 1.74 million tons and Kuvasaycement with capacity of 920 000 tons.
In 2012, cement production in Uzbekistan increased by 1.3 percent to 6.78 million tons, compared to 2011.