Uzbekistan, Tashkent, April 25 /Trend, D.Azizov/
Uzbekistan plans to involve China's Citic Construction Co. Ltd. in the establishment of facilities to be specialized in the production of petrochemicals, the press service of the National Holding Company (NHC) Uzbekneftegaz reported.
Citic, NHC Uzbekneftegaz, and State Joint-Stock Company Uzkhimprom last week signed a trilateral Memorandum of mutual understanding envisioning the participation of Citic in a series of strategic investment projects in the Uzbek petrochemical industry in 2011-2015, the NHC said in a press release. The document was signed at the sidelines of President Islam Karimov's visit to China.
Under the document, the sides explore the opportunity of establishment of a facility on the basis of open joint-stock company Ferganaazot to be involved in production of 200,000 tons of methanol and 100,000 tons of dimethyl alcohol to be further used for the production of alternative kinds of liquid fuel.
No value of the new facility is reported. As expected, the projects will be financed at the expense of loan money to be assigned by Chinese banks, the credit of the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan, and own assets of Uzbek companies.
According to earlier reports, in 2011-2013 Uzkhimprom plans to build a $90 million-worth dimethyl producing facility with the annual production capacity of 100,000 tons, for the purposes of expansion of use of alternative kinds of fuel in Uzbekistan.