Uzbekistan puts into operation chemical plant built by Chinese companies

TASHKENT, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Uzbekistan has put into operation a new chemical complex built by Chinese companies in the Navoi region, which was hailed as a very significant event by a head of the country's leading chemical company.

"This is a very unique project to produce polyvinyl chloride (PVC), caustic soda and methanol," Odil Temirov, chairman of the Uzkimyosanoat joint stock company, said on Sunday.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev attended the chemical complex' opening ceremony on Saturday.

"The project has changed Uzbekistan's dependence on imports of PVC, caustic soda, and created a large number of new jobs, which is of great significance to the economic development of Uzbekistan," the president said.

"We hope to continue to cooperate with Chinese enterprises on PVC projects in the future," Mirziyoyev added.

The project was implemented in conjunction with Chinese companies, China CAMC Engineering Co., Ltd. and HQC (Shanghai) Company.

"Our Chinese partners treated the work with a sense of great responsibility," Temirov said, adding that "I would like to thank the commissioning team, which has been working at the plant for three months together with our local specialists, operators, as well as engineering and technical staff."

"They became friends and all worked together as one team. In the end, we got the result of this close-knit team, the PVC, which is in demand in our country," he said.

"The start of the production process went very smoothly. Now we are gradually stabilizing the production process and reaching its designed capacity," Temirov noted.

With its annual capacity of 100,000 tons of PVC, 75,000 tons of caustic soda and 300,000 tons of methanol, the complex, besides providing local enterprises with the necessary raw materials, also plans to export products worth of 40 million U.S. dollars annually, the president's press service said.

Temirov also expressed confidence that together with Chinese companies they will be able to build and launch a second PVC production complex in a short time.