Uzbekistan, Tashkent, May 14 / Trend D.Azizov /
OJSC Navoiazot, the largest chemical plant in Uzbekistan, announced an international tender for a turnkey construction of a complex for the production of polyvinylchloride (PVC), sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and methanol with a starting cost of $440 million, the company reported.
The project provides for the construction of a complex producing 50,000 tons of PVC and 32 tons of caustic soda per year.
Construction will be self-funded by Navoiazot, as well as assets of the Reconstruction and Development Fund of Uzbekistan and foreign banks. The completion term is 31 months
According to the tender terms, applicants must have working assets of at least 20 per cent of the contract value or a bank guarantee for the provision of these assets and a production base, as well as experience on similar sites.
Bids are accepted until July 9, 2013
As reported in mid-2009, Navoiazot and Korean ISU Engineering established a joint venture ISU Navoi Chemical for the implementation of a project for the production of PVC and caustic soda at the cost of $180 million.
The PVC complex construction project is planned to be implemented by assets and loans attracted by the South Korean company to the sum of $90 million, a credit from the Reconstruction and Development Fund of Uzbekistan worth $80 million and the own assets of the State Joint Stock Company (SJSC) Uzkhimprom which includes JSC Navoiazot for $10 million.
In October 2011, the Uztyazhneftegazkhimproyekt design institute completed processing a previously prepared preliminary feasibility study of the project. It was expected that the study will be approved in the December and a government decision on the project would be made in late 2011 - early 2012. Meanwhile, construction was expected to begin in the first half of 2012.
However, the examination of the feasibility study found a necessity to revise it, as Navoiazot's acetylene producing units which are the raw material for production, require significant modernisation.
Navoiazot which is the former Navoi chemical plant is Uzbekistan's largest and was commissioned in 1964. It specialises in the production of nitrogen fertilisers and nitronic fibres, as well as the integrated product of organic synthesis.