Uzbekistan, Oman to set up JV for US$250m cement plant by year-end
Uzbek national holding company Uzbekneftegas, the joint-stock company Uzstroimaterialy, and Oman Investment Fund plan to set up a joint venture by year-end for the building of a cement factory in the Surkhandarya region costing US$250m, an Uzstroimaterialy management source told Interfax.
"Before the end of August, Oman Investment Fund is to name a company that will be the joint venture’s cofounder from Oman," the source said. An intergovernmental agreement between the two countries concerning the main principles for the JV’s creation was signed in March, he said, and, "The main package of founding documents is ready, and we are close to the joint venture’s creation."
The cement factory’s actual construction is now figured to begin in 2011 and end in 2014. Projected capacity will be 1.7Mta of special types, including well cement for the oil and gas sector.
Project financing will come from Oman Investment Fund credit resources and the Uzbek companies’ own monies.
Plans call for another two cement plants to be built in Uzbekistan aside from this one: one in the Dzhizak region (2Mta) and another in the Kashkadarya region (1.5Mt). And in 2009, the Uzbek-U.S. joint venture Rakhnamo-Nur began building a US$103.2m cement factory (1Mt) in the Karakalpak region.
Uzbekistan has six operating cement factories with combined established production capacity of 6.5 million tonnes, the biggest of which are OJSC Kyzylkumtsement (3.08Mt), OJSC Akhangarantsement (1.74Mt), and OJSC Kubasaitsement (920,000t).
Published under Cement News
