Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Orienbonk is expected to begin construction of a cement plant in Qubodiyon district of Khatlon province in the near futures in cooperation with foreign investors.
Currently, Chinese specialists are completing the design work at the site for construction of the cement plant.
Head of Qubodiyon district, Zafar Fayzullozoda, says President Emomali Rahmon will lay the cornerstone for the plant in early September ahead of the 26th anniversary of Tajikistan’s Independence, which will be celebrated on September 9.
Tajik investment-and-production company, Orieninvest, will be engaged in solving organizational issues regarding development of the project.
This company was established by OJSC Orienbonk in 2015 for the purpose of attracting foreign investments and launching industrial enterprises.
According to Orieninvest director general Saidismatullo Valiyev, Orienbonk, Ismoili Somoni Holding Company and China’s Henan Zhong-Ya Holding Group will finance construction of the cement plant in Qubodiyon district.
More than 160 million U.S. dollars are expected to be invested in construction of this cement plant that will create 1,000 new jobs. The Qubodiyon cement plant will have a daily capacity of 5,000 tons of cement (2,500 tons of Portland cement type M400 and 2,500 tons of type V cement (high sulphate resistant cement)).
Tajikistan plans to increase its cement production by launching new joint Tajik-Chinese ventures.
Over the past eight years, Chinese investors have reportedly helped increase cement production in Tajikistan almost ten times as much.
In 2016, Tajikistan increased its cement production to 2 million tons, an increase of 500,000 tons from 2015, according to the Minister of Industry and New Technologies. This is due to new cement plants opening in Vahdat, Bobojonghafourov and Yovon.
The country has begun exporting its excess to neighboring countries. In 2016, Tajikistan exported cement to Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Small volumes of cement were also exported to Russia.
The country now has 13 cement plants with a total production capacity of 4.7Mt/yr. Tajik-Chinese joint ventures Huaxin Gayur Cement, Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement and Huaxin Gayur Sughd Cement accounted for 38%, 28% and 16.6% of the local production in the first quarter of this year.
However, not all are happy of such achievements. Some experts say increase in a number of cement plant in Tajikistan can inflict harm on the country’s environment.
“In connection with serious environmental problems, China has shifted the main hazardous productions to other countries in recent years. Tajikistan, which has significant requirements in cement, has turned out to be convenient country for Chinese cement producers,” Tajik independent ecologist told Asia-Plus on the basis of anonymity.
Australian expert Dirk van der Kley last year noted in his article China Shifts Polluting Cement to Tajikistan that Chinese cement companies are scouring Central Asia for new opportunities as profits dry up at home.
According to him, Chinese cement companies are facing a tougher time at home, as profits fall and less efficient, more polluting plants are forced to shut down or pay the costs of environmental damage in the wake of new laws and a crackdown on pollution. Cement is one of the world’s most polluting industries and a major source of carbon dioxide and smog that is causing a health crisis in China.
Chinese producers are now scouring the world for locations where cement prices are high and local competition weak. In Tajikistan, Chinese companies reportedly face less hostility than in other Central Asian countries. In Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, protests against Chinese companies, and laws perceived to benefit Chinese companies, have been relatively commonplace. These have not materialized in Tajikistan probably due to greater levels of autocratic control, Dirk van der Kley noted.
