ASTANA – Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov visited the construction site of a EuroChem-Karatau large chemical complex and new investment projects at the Taraz Chemical Park special economic zone (SEZ) during a working trip to the Zhambyl Region, reported the Prime Minister’s press service on Aug. 11.
The construction site of a EuroChem-Karatau large chemical complex. Photo credit: Prime Minister’s press service. Click to see the map in full size. The map is designed by The Astana Times.
EuroChem-Karatau is set to launch a chemical complex for the production of mineral fertilizers with the production capacity of at least 1 million tons of products per year. The project will gain over $1 billion in foreign direct investment and create 1,200 new jobs.
According to Smailov, the government pays great attention to the implementation of projects in the chemical industry and a new large plant is important for the development of the region and the country.
“This project will meet the needs of agricultural producers in mineral fertilizers and will provide people with jobs. It is very important to speed up the launch of the plant to produce demanded goods as soon as possible,” said Smailov.
Alikhan Smailov paid a working trip to the Zhambyl Region. Photo credit: Prime Minister’s press service.
As part of the first stage of a large-scale investment project, EuroChem has established the phosphorite mining with production capacity of up to 660,000 tons per year, and built a unit for medium crushing and fine grinding with a capacity of 640,000 tons per year. The amount of investments reached $126 million.
Smailov also learned about the activities of the Taraz Chemical Park SEZ, located in the Shu district.
The TAS Market company implements an investment project to create a silicon cluster with the production of industrial silicon, graphite electrodes, polysilicon and solar panels. The Qazaq Soda enterprise is set to launch the country’s first plant for the production of soda ash in 2025. The production capacity will reach 500,000 tons of products per year with the prospect of increasing to 1.2 million tons per year.
To date, 838 industrial enterprises employing nearly 43,000 people operate in the region. In January-July, the volume of output reached 510 billion tenge (US$1.13 billion) with 72% in the processing industry. The production of mineral fertilizers increased by 3.2 times, sugar – by 8.9%, cheese and cottage cheese – by 5.9%, shoes – by 20.2%. The share of the chemical sector in the manufacturing industry is over 49%.
