BISHKEK (TCA) — As a landlocked country infused with rivers, springs and freshwater lakes, including the world’s second-largest high-mountain lake, Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan has an abundance of freshwater resources for aquaculture. Having realized this, the country has been making its path, with the help of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to develop this to a full-scale industry.

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DUSHANBE (TCA) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are providing a US$ 88 million financing package to complete the rehabilitation of the Qairokkum hydro power plant (QHPP) to support Tajikistan improve its electricity supply, the EBRD said on April 13.

The loan will complete an ambitious programme of investment that was commenced in 2014 with financing from the EBRD, Austria and the United Kingdom and the Climate Investment Funds’ Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience. The government of Austria is again funding technical cooperation support.

The new financing will fund the second and final phase of the rehabilitation and modernisation of the 60-year old QHPP which provides electricity to 500,000 people.
Measures will include concrete dam works and the installation of hydraulic steel components, turbines and electromechanical equipment for the four hydropower units.

The full rehabilitation will increase the plant’s installed capacity from the current 126 MW to 174 MW. The upgrade will introduce innovative climate resilience measures enabling the plant to cope with the expected impact of climate change on the hydrology of the country.

It will also build the capacity of the Tajik hydropower operator to anticipate, assess and manage climate-related risks by introducing best international practices from leading countries such as Canada.

Tajikistan is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Its glacial hydrology and, by extension, its hydropower sector are highly sensitive to the impacts of climate change and the project offers a model of how carefully designed investments can make hydropower more resilient.

To date, the EBRD has invested about €600 million (US$ 700 million equivalent) in various sectors of Tajikistan’s economy. Moreover, the EBRD is supporting Tajikistan’s effort in adapting to the effects of climate change.

For example, with its CLIMADAPT credit line, the EBRD is collaborating with local banks to provide loans to farmers, small businesses and households to finance technologies for energy and water efficiency and sustainable land management to improve the use of climate-vulnerable resources.

BISHKEK (TCA) — The Embassy of China in Kyrgyzstan has asked the Kyrgyz Foreign Affairs and Internal Affairs Ministries to conduct a fair investigation and protect Chinese investors, after hundreds of residents of the country’s Toguz-Torou district set several buildings of the Kyrgyz-Chinese joint venture Makmal GL Developing ablaze on April 11, 24.kg news agency reported.

On April 11, locals broke into the territory of Makmal GL Developing and set a gold-processing plant on fire near the town of Kazarman in the Toguz-Torou district of the Jalal-Abad province in the south of Kyrgyzstan. They did not allow the firefighters to extinguish the fire.

According to official reports, protesters burned two large KamAZ trucks, excavators, a mobile crane, containers, and an administrative building of the company. Three policemen were injured in the riots.

According to the company, $5 million worth of equipment was burnt.

Violent protest

The main reason for the protest was the fear of the environment violation if the plant starts operating. The protesters said that the company’s management has not fulfilled their demands, and began to set fire to the buildings. According to some estimates, about one thousand protesters participated in the riot.

The protesters also threw stones at policemen and members of the Commission of the State Inspectorate for Environmental and Technical Safety, who arrived in Toguz-Torou to conduct outreach work with the local population.

After the incident, Prime Minister Sapar Isakov fired akim (head of administration) of the Toguz-Torou district Tilek Idrisov.

Next to the new plant, there is a Makmalzoloto plant which uses cyanide to extract gold. The new plant in Kazarman planned to extract gold using modern ecologically friendly technologies without cyanides. The commission was to study the impact of the plant on the environment and then give its conclusion whether the plant will work or not. However, the commission could not complete its work due to the riot.

Prime Minister Isakov ordered the Ministry of Internal Affairs to conduct a thorough investigation into the arson of the gold-processing plant, stressing the inadmissibility of such actions of spoiling of private property. The Ministry has instituted criminal proceedings for disorderly conduct, deliberate destruction or damage to others’ property by arson, and mass riots.

The police fully control the situation in the region, the Interior Ministry reported.

Construction permitted

According to the State Inspectorate for Environmental and Technical Safety, Makmal GL Developing has permission to build a gold-processing plant, and only the environmental issue hindered the launch of the plant.

The company has not yet submitted the results of the environmental assessment, said Ulan Ryskulov, Chairman of the State Committee for Industry, Energy and Subsoil Resources.

After the assessment, the Committee planned to inform the local population whether the enterprise meets the environmental requirements or not. However, local residents, not waiting for the results, began to destroy the company’s property. It is not yet known who initiated the riots, but it looked like a preplanned action, because people came out with posters. The relevant authorities should investigate the case, Ryskulov said.

Background

According to official data, Maksat Jeenaliev (formerly vice-president of Kyrgyzaltyn state gold company) is the head of Makmal GL Developing. The founders are Kurandy Development LLC and Yan Weihong (China).

Makmal GL Developing began to build the plant in 2017. The enterprise was built to process ores and concentrates of precious metals received from local gold-mining enterprises. Such ores are currently exported to Kazakhstan and China due to the lack of processing enterprises in Kyrgyzstan.

The operating life of the plant is eight years. The project costs $30 million. At the first stage, $10 million has been invested in the construction of the plant.

The Toguz-Torou residents repeatedly demanded to close the gold-processing plant. The enterprise was suspended in February of this year after the protests of the local population.

MPs opinion

Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Fuel and Energy Sector and Subsoil Use, Kojobek Ryspaev, supports the construction of the gold-processing plant in Toguz-Torou. “If we continue this way, no investor will come to us,” he said.

Earlier, some MPs initiated a bill to introduce a 25-percent duty on the export of gold-bearing ores from Kyrgyzstan, but in November 2017 the Parliament decided to postpone this initiative and to build a gold-processing plant in the country which would help increase revenues to the state budget.

The riot at the Makmal mine badly affects the international image of Kyrgyzstan, and the country bears economic losses, MP Aitmamat Nazarov said. Two months have passed since the last rally at Makmal, but no public hearings have been held while the authorities had to talk to the population and resolve the issue. It is useless to fire the head of the district only, but it is necessary to consider the responsibility of more high-ranking officials, he added.

Deputy Parliament Speaker Mirlan Bakirov advised not to rush to apply administrative measures against the Toguz-Torou residents. Local activists, through local deputies, repeatedly asked the Government and the investor company to provide all the necessary information, but they have not received an answer. As a result, protests took place while they could be avoided, he believes.

MP Azamat Arapbaev spoke in defense of the rights of investors at the parliament session. There were cases when subsoil users obtained documents necessary to develop deposits, spent their money and time, but were not allowed to work on the ground, he said.

In most cases, laws passed by the Parliament are not enforced on the ground. It is necessary to develop a new law on the relationship of subsoil users with local governments, he added.

Conclusion

Makmal GL Developing has the right to demand compensation for damages to the plant and machinery burned during the riot.

According to international agreements, the Government is obliged to ensure protection of foreign investments in Kyrgyzstan. Otherwise, investors have the right to apply to international arbitration.

ASTANA (TCA) — The first export containers have been transported by a feeder vessel from Kazakhstan’s Aktau seaport across the Caspian Sea to the port of Baku in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan’s national railways company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) said.

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ALMATY (TCA) — A plant for the production of large-diameter welded steel pipes will be constructed in Almaty by the end of this year. The relevant investment contract was signed with the support of Kazakh Invest National Company for Investment Support and Promotion, within the framework of which the Chinese investor (a subsidiary of CNPC) jointly with Kazakhstan partners will invest USD 50 million in the project and will create more than 300 permanent jobs in the region. The total cost of the project is USD 100 million, Kazakh Invest said on April 12.

This plant will be located on an area of 18.3 hectares in Industrial zone of Alatau district of Almaty. Construction of the high-technology plant will allow to ensure 70% import substitution of pipe products imported to Kazakhstan.

The investor notes that up to 1000 temporary jobs will be created in the region during the construction period and more than 300 permanent jobs will be created after the launch of the plant.

It is planned that the plant will supply up to 100 thousand tons of high quality pipe products per year. These welded pipes are designed for the transportation of oil, gas, water and petroleum products, and will be used in mining, chemical industry and in energy field. It is also planned to produce anti-corrosion coatings.

“We plan to launch the plant in December 2018. Currently, an active construction phase is being implemented. In the future, it is planned to expand production up to 150 thousand tons per year,” Radzhan Nurmukhambetov, Communications Adviser of Asia Steel Pipe Corporation LLP, said.

The diameter of steel pipes will be from 355 to 1420 mm.

This project was included in the National Industrialization Map of Kazakhstan and in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Implementation of the project for the production of welded steel pipes was made possible following the meeting of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the Chairman of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping in 2014, within the framework of which the Program of Complex Strategic Cooperation in oil and gas industry was signed between Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunaiGas and China’s CNPC.