Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan and Belarus closely cooperate in industrial sphere, particularly in machine engineering, which holds a special place in the development of the bilateral economic relations.

Ganja Automobile Plant has launched a new assembly line in Azerbaijan for E-321 electric buses and combine harvesters of the Palesse KZS-575 brand.

The opening ceremony of the new assembly line took place at the Ganja Automobile Plant.

The event was attended by officials from Belarus, Azerbaijan, the plant management and others. They got acquainted with the plant, including the new line for the assembly of the harvesting machine.

“Today, for the first time in Azerbaijan, we have assembled an electric bus and put into operation a modern, environmentally friendly, comfortable electric bus using alternative energy,” Khanlar Fatiyev, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Ganja Automobile Plant, said at the event.

He noted that such electric buses already serve the population on the streets of Minsk.

“In the future, 30-40 percent of spare parts for these electric buses will be produced at Ganja Automobile Plant. We hope that our environmentally friendly, high-quality electric buses will also serve well on the streets of Azerbaijan,” Fatiyev said.

In turn, Head of the Ganja City Executive Power Niyazi Bayramov spoke about the innovations at the plant.

“Close friendly ties were established between Azerbaijan and Belarus. Ganja Automobile Plant is a brilliant example of our bilateral relations, we have got acquainted with the machinery collected at the factory – tractors, combine harvesters, including very high quality electric buses. We hope that the assembly of electric buses will expand in the future,” he said.

At the same time, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Igor Lyashenko noted that Ganja Automobile Plant has become like a native in the family of the Belarusian machine-building industry.

Alexander Novikov, General Director of Belarusian Gomselmash, also highly praised the machinery produced by the plant.

Later, a Palesse KZS-575 combine harvester and a E-321 electric bus came off the assembly line.

The electric bus is beneficial, both in terms of minimizing the negative impact on the environment and in terms of energy consumption savings. The new electric buses, designed to carry 83 passengers, are equipped with 26 seats, air conditioning, information monitor and video surveillance system.

In addition, the electric bus E-321, developed by OJSC Belkommunmash Holding Management Company, is designed to travel at a speed of 60 km/h.

The combine harvesters of the Palesse KZS-575 brand are equipped with 114/115 horsepower engines. The speed of the combine is 20 km/h.

Ganja Automobile Plant’s capacity allows production of 150 electric buses and 120 combines annually.

Earlier, Azerbaijan and Belarus signed agreements on beginning the assembly of buses of the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ), the supply of the components of electric buses produced by Belkommunmash and the components for combines produced at the Gomselmash plant.

Presently, the Ganja Automobile Plant specializes on assembling Russian Oka and UAZ cars, Belarusian MAZ and Belarus tractors, Chinese Changan vans & trucks and other vehicles.

Ganja Automobile Plant is the largest assembly plant of Belarusian tractors outside the Eurasian Economic Union. Launched in 2004, the plant organizes the assembly of all types of trucks and tractors of Belarusian production since 2006. So far, more than 10,000 Belarusian tractors and specialized equipment have been assembled at the Ganja Automobile Plant.

The plant produced 478 units of machinery in January-April 2019. In addition, the plant manufactured 478 units of machinery, including 466 different models of tractors, one MAZ automobile trailer, one KAMAZ automobile, two MAZ buses and five tractor trailers with a self-operating mechanism.

In general, Ganja Automobile Plant produced 8 models of MAZ cars in the amount of 2,864 units. Some 30-40 percent of the assembly of these vehicles was provided by local production. Moreover, the plant manufactured 330 MAZ trailers and 3,202 units of attachments, 208 KAMAZ trucks and 411 Ural vehicles.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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