DUSHANBE (TCA) — The government of Tajikistan and China’s Henan Zhong-Ya holding group have signed an investment agreement on reconstruction and commissioning of ammonia and carbamide production at Azot (Nitrogen) OJSC (formerly Tajik Azot), Avesta news agency reported on September 7.
According to the State Committee of Investment and State Property Management of Tajikistan, the Chinese company will build a mineral fertilizer production (ammonia and carbamide) in the town of Sarband in the Khatlon province.
The first phase of the project, to be completed during one and a half years, is to start the production of 120 thousand tons of ammonia and 200 thousand tons of carbamide a year.
The second phase, to take three years, is to increase the production capacity up to 300 thousand tons of ammonia and 500 thousand tons of carbamide a year.
In accordance with the agreement, the Chinese company receives 50 percent of shares of Azot OJSC. In exchange, it will invest $360 million in modernization of the production facilities and introduction of the latest technology.
In 2002, Ukrainian billionaire Dmitry Firtash purchased a controlling interest in Tajik Azot, one of the largest mineral fertilizer producers in Central Asia.
Tajik Azot then stood idle due to the absence of natural gas supplies from Uzbekistan.
In 2014, the economic court of Tajikistan annulled the agreement on the establishment of CJSC JV Tajik Azot, three-fourth of whose shares belonged to the Ukrainian tycoon, and nationalized the fertilizer plant.
