A glass factory in Kazakhstan will be launched in December 2020

A sheet glass plant in the Kyzylorda region is scheduled to be launched in December this year, said Aidar Arifkhanov, chairman of the board of Baiterek National Management Holding JSC, on December 29, 2020.

The sheet glass factory in the Kyzylorda region is one of the largest industrial “long-term construction” of the republic. Initially, the construction of Kazakhstan’s first production of building glass was supposed to be completed in 2017, but in January 2017, a corruption scandal broke out with ex-Minister of National Economy Kuandyk Bishimbayev, who was accused of embezzlement of 1 billion tenge during the construction of this plant. Bishimbayev oversaw this construction when he was chairman of the board of the Baiterek NMH in 2013-2016.

The investigation, which affected the activities of the general contractor of the project - Shymkentkhimmontazh LLP - froze the construction work at the facility. The new deadline, 2019, was also disrupted due to the fact that the American company Stewart Engineers did not want to participate in its implementation until the completion of the investigation, and then expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Kazakhstan attracted ChinaTriumph International Engineering Co., a subsidiary of China National, to complete the project. building materials corporation China National Building Materials.

An American company supplying equipment to the plant refused to cooperate with a Chinese investor for fear of technology getting to competitors. Nevertheless, in December last year, the main investors in the Kyzylorda glass factory were the American company StewartEngineers, Inc. and China China Triumph International Engineering Co. - agreed on the transfer of equipment installation drawings, and it was announced that the plant would be launched on July 6, 2020.

However, this period was again rescheduled - this time because of the coronavirus pandemic, which closed the territory of Kazakhstan for foreign specialists, without which it was impossible to carry out installation and adjustment of equipment, Arifkhanov explained.

“Indeed, this project is very complex and long-playing, it was launched back in 2015, the completion date was two years, but all this dragged on until 2020. Initially, different dates were set - 2019, July 2020, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, many Chinese specialists could not arrive in Kazakhstan for installation. Therefore, the completion deadline is already in December 2020, ”said the head of the Board of Baiterek during an online conference.

According to him, almost 80% of this plant construction has already been completed. The project budget remained the same - 42.1 billion tenge, as well as the plant’s design capacity - 197 thousand tons of flat glass per year, or 600 tons per day, which will fully cover the internal needs of 180 thousand tons per year. The factory will produce industrial glass from 2 to 12 mm thick, used in housing, social and industrial facilities. The approximate cost of production will be $ 50 per ton.

Source: https://kursiv.kz/