Page 31 - Uzbekistan rising bne IntelliNews special report

bne December 2021 Special Report: Uzbekistan Rising I 31
“In total the company is planning to invest $1.7bn in new production facilities that includes ammonium, urea and nitric acid production amongst other things”
In operation since last December, together the plant produces 577,000 tonnes of urea a year and 660,000 tonnes of ammonia after $780mn
of investment as well as 500,000 tonnes of nitric acid following another $200mn of investment.
After the commissioning of the new facility the previous 50 year-old outdated production capacities are being dismantled. The company officials emphasized that the launch of these facilities will give impetus to the comprehensive renewal of
a number of nitrogen fertilizer production units, which in turn, will boost the agricultural industry.
“One of the sources of funding is export credit agencies that provide loans
to build the facilities and they have participated in all the projects now in operation,” says Temirov. “The urea production line is under contraction and should start operations in March.”
Half of the ammonia production will be used to produce urea and the rest will be used to make ammonia nitrate and other chemicals that will be sold on the domestic market although about 15%
of the production is due to be exported and 60% of the urea will be exported. “Now we are starting to pay the
credits from the first year. The plant went into business in 1964 and the units we have been using were old,
but those have been decommissioned now as we are modernizing the whole production since 2016,” says Temirov.
In the plant’s control room a team
of operators sit at screens watching the plant at work. Chinese characters adorn some of the hardware and
been built and are already in operation. Some are under construction, like
the second PVC unit. But most of
the units are still dotted lines of the plan as they have yet to be started.
The first round of investments have
been completed and the plant is now working on a commercial basis. In the next phase the company can already raise commercial loans to fund the second phase of investment and is looking to build a new “chemical cluster” – another buzz word for the Mirziyoyev administration.
on the screen displays as well, testifying to the active investments the Chinese partners have played.
Temirov takes us to a board that shows the plant’s grounds that are covered with plans for new units. Some have
The new PVC production line is a first step in that but there are plans to extend production to more complicated chemicals such as to polypropylene and other polyolefins (long carbon chains) that form plastics and other products, as part of an investment plan that will run to 2024.
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