The Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Cementi Tojik (Tajik Cement), which operates the Dushanbe cement plant, has announced its closure and the cement plant has been shut down.
As it had been reported earlier, the decision to shut down the Dushanbe cement plant was made at a government session in late June and the Government of Tajikistan on June 29 issued a regulation to shut down the Dushanbe cement plant as it causes serious air pollution in the capital city.
OJSC Cementi Tojik announces the cessation of its activities effective December 26, 2023.
The issue of shutting down the Dushanbe cement plant has reportedly discussed by experts and civil society activists for many years and they have demanded that the government shut down the enterprise or move it to another location remote from populated areas.
The Dushanbe cement plant that was built in 1942 now does not meet the demands of modern technologies and seriously affects the ecology of Dushanbe.
Back in 2019, Tajikistan’s authorities noted that the cement plant that is located in the northern part of Dushanbe will cease operations and a new cement plant will be built in an area not far from it.
It is reportedly decided to build the confectionery factory on the site of the Dushanbe cement plant.
Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, reported on July 18, 2023 that findings of investigation carried by it have shown that air pollution is not the only reason for closing the Dushanbe cement plant.
Radio Ozodi reported in 2019 that Faroz Company has begun constructing another cement plant slightly north of the Dushanbe cement plant. According to information from representatives of Faroz, that company, which is related to Shamsullo Sohibov, the son-in-law of the President of Tajikistan, shut down its operations back in 2019.
Meanwhile, an investigation carried out by Radio Ozodi in December 2019 has reportedly revealed that the liquidation of the company was announced just for the removal of its signs, and most its firms have continued to operate as ostensibly independent businesses or have changed their names.
Recall, President Emomali Rahmon and Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali on November 7 this year attended an official opening of one more cement plant, Closed Joint-Stock-Company (CJSC) Tojikcement, in Tajikistan.
The Tajik president’s office said on November 8 that the plant with annual capacity of 1.2 million tons is located in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district on an area of 35 hectares, where production facilities and other necessary infrastructure, including an administrative building, a control center and a diagnostic center, warehouses, a canteen and two technical repair stations have been built.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of this cement plant was held on September 17, 2019.
