DUSHANBE, April 4, 2012, Asia-Plus — Operations at Dushanbe cement plant were suspended on April 1 following stoppage of gas supplies, Asia-Plus has learned from Muzaffar Hakimov, the deputy director of state unity enterprise Tojiktsement (Dushanbe cement plant).
According to him, they were producing up to 600 tons of cement per month until April 1. “The plant workers still go to work regularly and there is still no question of asking workers to take unpaid vacations,” Hakimov said.
“We still have 16,000 tons of cement and this reserve I think will be enough just for two months,” said Tojiktsement deputy director. “I hope the issue of resumption of Uzbek gas deliveries to Tajikistan will be resolved positively.”
He noted that current price of one of cement manufactured by the Dushanbe cement plant is 950 somoni (equivalent to some 199 U.S. dollars). “The price may probably rise inconsiderably in connection with rise in electricity rates in the country,” Hakimov added.
On the project to shift the plant’s rotary kilns to coal, Hakimov said that it was impossible without environmental impact assessment.
“Besides, we ourselves are still not ready to make shift to coal-powered equipment, though one of the rotary kilns has already been shifted to coal.” The project for shifting of one the plant’s rotary kilns from natural gas to coal has been designed in cooperation with Chinese company, Jun Hao.
