The Tajik authorities intend to build one more cement plant with annual capacity of 1.2 million tons in the country.
The Government of Tajikistan and the Closed Joint-Stock (CJSC) Tojik Sement (Tajik Cement) have signed an investment agreement on construction of enterprises for production of cement, concrete building materials and cement sacks, according to the State Committee on Investments and State-owned Property Management (GosKomInvest).
The agreement, in particular, provides for construction a cement plant with annual capacity of 1.2Mt/yr.
A source at GosKomInvest says 100 million U.S. dollars will be attracted in direct investments for construction of thee enterprises.
According to some sources, the Tajik authorities intend to attract Chinese investors.
An official source at the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies (MoINT) says the new plant will be built not far from the Dushanbe cement plant in the Varzob district. After the new cement plant is introduced into operation, the Dushanbe cement plant will be shut down.
Tajikistan has produced more than 1.2 million tons of cement over the first three months of this year, which was 75,000 tons more than in the same period last year
Tajik-Chinese joint ventures Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement, Huaxin Gayur Cement, and Huaxin Gayur Sughd Cement accounted for more than 85 of the local production in the first three months of this year.
Dushanbe-based cement plant (Tojik Cement) accounted for only 6.0 percent of the local production over the same four-month period.
Nearly 40 percent of cement produced Tajikistan over the first four months of this year has been exported to neighboring countries – Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan.
Tajikistan now has 13 cement plants with a total production capacity of 4.7Mt/yr.
Tajikistan has increased production of cement significantly in recent years due to launching new Tajik-Chinese joint ventures. Over the last eight years, production of cement has increased in Tajikistan nearly ten times.
Meanwhile, such achievements of Tajikistan’s industry evoke concern of ecologists, who consider that excessive increase in cement production may cause irreparable harm to the country’s environment.
According to them, more polluting plants in China 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 therefore, Chinese producers have moved excess capacity offshore. The Chinese cement plants mainly use coal for their fuel. The companies reportedly claim that their plants are using advanced environmental and energy saving technology, without specifying exact standards.
