Ahangarancement. Photo from Eurocement.ru
Ahangarancement, the second most important cement producer in Uzbekistan, has paused production due to a shortage in natural gas supplies to the company’s plant. As reported by Radio Liberty’s Uzbek website Ozodlik, work at the factory, located in the Tashkent region, came to a total stop on 9 January.
According to the company’s managers, disruptions to the gas supply began at the end of last year. There was only enough fuel for two of the factory’s four kilns, as a result of which the factory went over to operating only the night shift. In January, the gas supply dropped to such an extent that it was only sufficient to heat the factory building itself. Prior to the problems, the company operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Workers who were scheduled to take time off anyway have been sent home. The remaining workers have been charged instead with carrying out maintenance work on the facility. The company does not have sufficient funds to give paid leave to all of its employees.
The factory plans to resume operations on 1 February. But the managers themselves are unsure whether the gas supply issues will be resolved by this time.
At full capacity, Ahangarancement can produce around 2.2 million tons of cement per year. In this, the factory is second only to Kyzylkumcement, located in the Navoiy region, whose production capacity amounts to 3.8 million tons each year.
The factory at Ahangaran is run by the Russian firm Eurocement Group, which plans to use the facility as the base for an industrial cluster producing construction materials. It is estimated that this will allow the complex to produce up to 5 million tons of cement, 144,000 cubic metres of ready-mix concrete and 30,000 cubic metres of concrete products a year. In June last year, it was reported that the creation of the cluster would cost $200m, half of which has already been raised from Russian companies.
