Azernews.Az

By Sara Israfilbayova

Tajikistan plans to begin construction of a new cement plant in the south of Uzbekistan, in the territory of Surxondaryo Region.

“The plant will be built at the expense of a private company that produces cement in Tajikistan. We welcome and support the intention of the Tajik private business to invest in the economy of the neighboring state,” said Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Republic of Tajikistan Nematullo Hikmatullozoda at a press conference on August 3.

He went on to say that the trade turnover between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the near future will be brought to $1 billion a year, adding that this became possible after relations between Tashkent and Dushanbe radically changed for the better in recent times.

He noted that the total volume of trade between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan for six months of this year amounted to $128.3 million, which is $69 million more compared to the same period last year.

In the first half of the year in 2018, Tajikistan exported products worth $75 million to Uzbekistan, and imported goods worth $53.3 million.

There are five big cement facilities and several small ones with total capacity of 8.5 million tons in Uzbekistan. Qizilqumsement JSC with capacity of 3.1 million tons and Akhangarancement JSC with capacity of 1.7 million tons are the biggest of them. In the next five years, Uzbekistan plans to increase the volume of cement output by half - to 17 million tons per year.

Representatives of the cement industry only in the next few years intend to build several large plants. For example, Russian holding company Eurocement Group will invest $ 220 million in cement production in a “dry way” with the capacity of 2.4 million tons per year.

Two more cement plants will be built by Chinese investors. The first will appear on the basis of the Xin Lei enterprise in the Akhangaran region and will have an annual capacity of 1 million tons and cost $ 108 million; the other - on the basis of Akhangaranshifer with a capacity of 1 million tons and a cost of $ 100 million.

Cement holds a significant share (76 percent) in the total volume of the construction materials production in Uzbekistan, according to Ozqurilishmateriallari JSC.

Uzbekistan exports cement to Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is

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