Uzbekistan-based Tashkent Metallurgical Plant (TMZ), which will produce galvanized zinc and polymer-coated rolled steel products, was inaugurated on December 4, according to local media reports. The annual production capacity of the plant is up to 750,000mt.
The project is located in Tashkent city’s Yangikhayot district and its total cost is €326.6mn ($420mn).
TMZ will supply products to the construction industry (production of metal tiles, air ducts, sandwich panels, roll-formed profiles, light steel thin-walled structures), household appliances, and vehicle manufacturing facilities (car body parts).
Earlier, the country mainly imported these products. The plant is expected to help the country become self-reliant and boost the domestic market.
The construction of the project on an area of 49.7 hectares was carried out by Russia’s Metprom group, while Italy-based Danieli supplied technologies and automated equipment. SFI Management Group was in charge of the implementation of the project.
The Tashkent Metallurgical Plant will initially import raw materials from Russia’s Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant. Currently, the construction of the casting and rolling complex at Uzmetkombinat JSC is also underway. Its commissioning will create a metallurgical cluster which will increase the level of localization up to 90pc, as per media reports.
The company also said that there would be no wastage at the plant and water used in production will be purified by special filters and returned to the technological process without being discharged into the environment. The air emissions will also be cleaned and minimized.
The construction of the plant had begun in February 2017.