Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Tashkent Metallurgical Plant (TMZ) was commissioned in Uzbekistan on 4 December. The total cost of the project is 326.7 million euros, of which 226 million euros are foreign investments, the press service of the company said.

The project was managed by a foreign company SFI Management Group, which fully oversaw all stages of construction, including project development, negotiations with all stakeholders, attracting investments, loans and recruiting foreign specialists.

The design and construction of the turnkey plant was carried out by the Russian group of companies MetProm. It is one of the leading design and construction organizations in the metallurgical industry in Russia. The main equipment supplier is one of the three leaders in the world market for the production of metallurgical equipment - the Italian manufacturer Danieli. At the same time, it is important that optimal technological solutions were chosen for the plant, which were maximally adapted to the conditions of Uzbekistan," said Valery Osin, chief engineer of TMZ.

According to him, the plant will produce metal sheets for car bodies, household appliances, as well as corrugated board and other products for the construction industry. After reaching full capacity, the enterprise will produce up to 500 thousand tons of cold-rolled metal per year. Some of the products are planned to be exported to the CIS countries, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and other states. At the same time, the project is designed for the possibility of increasing production volumes up to 750,000 tons of products per year if the necessary demand arises.

Today, Russia and China are the main suppliers of rolled steel to the Uzbek market, Osin said. It is with them that the products of the new enterprise will have to compete. And here the plant has a number of advantages - guaranteed quality provided by the most modern European equipment and personnel qualifications.

Most of the employees had completed internships at the leading metallurgical enterprises in Russia even before commissioning. Highly qualified specialists from Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan were also invited to work at TMZ. All this together will make it possible to produce quality products at a competitive price.

"The creation of the project from scratch made it possible to lay down the highest international standards for environmental safety in it. The main thing is that traditional furnaces will not be used here, as a result, the emission of dust and gas will be negligible. All production processes will be carried out in a closed cycle," said the quality director TMZ Bekali Turabekov.

He added that practically no waste will be generated at the enterprise. For example, water used in production will be purified by special filters and returned back to the technological process, and not discharged into the environment. Air emissions will also be cleaned and minimized.

Another important point, Turabekov stressed, is that TMZ will become one of the key components of the metallurgical cluster being created, together with the construction of a casting and rolling complex at Uzmetkombinat.

“Do not forget about the jobs created. After reaching full capacity, the enterprise will create over 700 jobs, most of which will be occupied by local specialists. The company has already signed contracts with leading universities in this area for organizing students’ practice and introducing interesting domestic developments of scientific institutions into production", - said the specialist.