DUSHANBE, April 19, Asia-Plus — Tajik-Iranian joint venture, TajIran, assembling agricultural tractors in Dushanbe, intends to lease its tractors to farming units in Tajikistan, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection (MoAEP).
The source at a MoAEP said that leasing gives the benefits of owning new equipment without capital outlay. According to him, the joint venture will set up a series of machine and tractor stations across the republic for leasing the tractors to farmers.
According to TajIran, they have already assembled 30 tractors of model “285”. The source noted that work on setting up the machine and tractor stations and maintenance centers in cooperation with the MoAEP. According to him, the stations will be established in all regions of Tajikistan.
As far as the price of these tractors is concerned, it fluctuates from $14,000 to $15,000, while the Belarus tractors are sold in Tajikistan for $19,500 per each, and Uzbek tractors are sold for not less than $18,000 per each. “Despite low prices of its output TajIran has not been able so far to realize its tractors in Tajikistan because of some tax problems,” the source said, adding that they also plan to assemble two other models in future – “399” and “930”.
TajIran has the capacity to assemble up to 3,000 tractors a year, some 10-15 tractors a day. TajIran began operations on September 22, 2006 after a two-day test and at present 60 competitively selected Tajik specialists work at the enterprise.
The enterprise is expected to mainly supply Tajik farmers. However, they also plan to export the tractors to Central Asian countries and Afghanistan.
The first tractors were delivered to Tajikistan from Iran for testing in 2004. The tractors were tested in Danghara, Hissor, Rasht and Rudaki, and they proved useful.
TajIran was launched by an agreement signed between Tajik ministry of industry and Iran’s tractor manufacturing plant in Dushanbe in mid-June 2006. Under the agreement Tajikistan owns 49 percent of the shares and Iran holds a 51% ownership interest in the company. The project cost is US $10 million.
