Uzbekistan“s state-owned Uzkhimprom and China“s Citic Pacific Ltd. investment company have signed a contract on construction of a US$ 32.3 million soda plant in Kungrad, Karakalpakstan republic. The…
Uzbekistan“s state-owned Uzkhimprom and China“s Citic Pacific Ltd. investment company have signed a contract on construction of a US$ 32.3 million soda plant in Kungrad, Karakalpakstan republic. The project will be financed with a loan from China“s Industrial-Commercial Bank insured by the Chinese ex-im insurance corporation (providing 90% of the project total) and with a loan from Uzbekistan“s Uzpromstroibank guaranteed by the government (10%), officials at Uzkhimprom said in August. The Chinese company will design and build the plant on a turnkey basis. Uzbekistan has selected Holland“s Akzo Nobel Engineering to provide comprehensive consulting services on the technological portion of the project. The plant will have capacity to produce 100,000 tons of soda ash a year. Construction is expected to take 26 months. The plant will supply entire domestic demand. Surplus soda ash and caustic soda and table salt will be exported. Uzbekistan“s demand for soda ash is currently estimated at 60,000 – 70,000 tons a year. The main demand for the soda will come from makers of household chemicals and construction materials, including glass manufacturers. The Kungrad plant will get inputs from two table salt deposits in Karakalpakstan republic: the Barsakelmes field with explored reserves totalling 131 million tons (sodium chloride content of over 97%) and the Dzhamansai deposit with explored reserves of over 70 million tons. Construction of the plant began in 1996 and, since then, the plans for the plant, which is being built by a consortium of German companies, have been revised several times. The cost of the technological portion of the project was originally estimated at US$ 211 million. The plant was to produce 160,000 tons of soda ash, 150,000 tons of caustic soda, 400,000 tons of sodium bicarbonate, and 20,000 tons of table salt a year. However, the project proved too costly.