ASHGABAT (TCA) — President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko on November 23 demanded that the Belarusian government promptly resolve the issues with unsettled debts to Belarusian companies for construction projects carried out overseas, including Turkmenistan’s debt for the construction of Garlyk fertilizer plant, Chronicles of Turkmenistan reported citing Belarusian BelTA news agency.
“I am being informed that the payment for the construction of Garlyk mining and refining facility has not been received so far. <…> The government should undertake prompt measures to resolve these issues. If needed, you should involve the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our representatives in the Eurasian Economic Commission,” President Lukashenko said.
Earlier this month, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov expressed extreme discontent with the performance of Garlyk plant. According to Turkmen media, the facility’s output is just 2.3% (32.3 thousand tons) of the projected volume of fertilizers.
In this connection the Turkmen President instructed that the shortcomings be reviewed and documents to file a petition to the International Court of Arbitration [against the Belarusian side] be prepared.
The Garlyk fertilizer plant worth $1.1 billion which was built by Belarusian construction company Belgorkhimprom was commissioned on 31 March 2017.
In July 2018 it became known that the Turkmen side owed the Belarus contractor $42.7 million. The Belarusian website Charter97 reported that “there are doubtful prospects of recovering the debt from the official Ashgabat since Turkmenistan is undergoing a severe economic crisis”.
