Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Increasing the innovative potential of the building materials industry is considered as an important factor in the country’s socio-economic development, which gives its significant results. It should be noted that Uzpromstroybank, which is one of the responsible institutions in this direction, financed 181 projects worth US$995 million in the first half of this year, 87 projects were involved.

The Decree of the President of the country from 9 June 2021 “On additional measures to increase the industrial potential of the regions” defines all organizational and practical mechanisms for raising the production of building materials to a new level.

A management system and a targeted strategy have been developed, aimed at increasing the economic efficiency of enterprises, strengthening the production of competitive and export-oriented products.

As a result of the work carried out by Uzpromstroybank in accordance with this Decree, as of 1 July, building materials were produced for 14.4 trillion soums or 1.9 trillion soums more than last year. Of these, products worth 459 billion soums were delivered to consumers as part of the localization program, and the targets for the development of the industry scheduled for this year were exceeded. At the same time, the fact that foreign and domestic investments in the amount of US$560 million have been mastered is of particular importance.

It should be emphasized that in 2022, the sphere provides for the implementation of 420 investment projects worth US$1.8 billion (including at the expense of the project initiators’ own funds - US$642 million, bank loans - US$473 million, foreign investments - US$708 million), production of products by industry enterprises for 27.6 trillion soums and through this - the creation of 15,533 new jobs.

In accordance with this, to date, 181 projects worth US$995 million have been financed jointly with commercial banks (at the expense of own funds - US$403 million, bank loans - US$422 million, foreign investments - US$170 million), involved 87 projects.

In particular, if Uzpromstroybank financed the project of Vodiy Plast Pro LLC, which began work in Andijan region, for the production of pipes with an annual capacity of 50 thousand meters of pipes, worth US$3 million, then with the financial assistance of Khalk Bank, a project was involved (with an annual production capacity of 1 million tons of cement) worth US$50 million of Gsr building materials LLC, which organized 200 new jobs in this territory. Also, the project of the private enterprise "Qarshi Conch Cement" in the Kashkadarya region with an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons of cement, with a total cost of US$ 150 million, also received financial support from the National Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan in a number of promising projects.

Until the end of the year, banks provided loans for another 46 projects in the amount of US$43.7 million. At the same time, the projects plan to produce mainly cement (17.6 million tons), building glass (32 million square meters), ceramic tiles (24 million square meters), drywall (73 million square meters), wallpaper (3 million . rolls) and other products.

Such systemic reforms in the sphere as increasing the efficiency of production, modernization, technical and technological renewal of the enterprises of the industry, the introduction of advanced technologies in the process of deep processing of local raw materials also contribute to the development of export-import operations in the building materials industry.

In particular, in the first half of this year, the volume of exports of products and services in the industry amounted to US$267 million, the planned target was fulfilled by 114.7 percent. This figure indicates that the promotion of building materials to the foreign market increased by US$118.2 million or 1.8 times compared to the same period last year.

At the same time, building materials worth US$277 million were imported, these operations decreased by US$14.5 million compared to the corresponding period last year.

It is known that by the above decree of the head of state, in order to fully use the opportunities for developing the raw material base of non-metallic minerals in our country, 24 districts (cities) are specialized in the production of building materials, the creation of small industrial zones for the implementation of projects for the production of building materials with the allocation of the necessary land plots in these territories .

Currently, a list of 58 projects worth US$150.9 million (of which US$89.6 million are bank loans) has been compiled, which are planned for implementation in specialized areas.

In Saryasi district, construction work has begun on the creation of a small industrial zone.

Until the end of this year, in the remaining 7 districts, together with the territorial khokimiyats, work will continue on the creation of industrial zones.

Along with this, efforts in the development of the field of building materials are also reflected in the activities of the “School of Entrepreneurs”.

In this center, organized by Uzpromstroybank together with the Association "Uzpromstroymaterialy", a system for assessing the qualifications of students, as well as a national qualification system, has been introduced.

Together with the University of Maltepe (Turkey), 400 representatives of the sphere were trained per year. Over the past training seasons, about 140 representatives of the general public have improved their knowledge and skills and received special certificates at the center. At present, admission for the eighth season to the "School of Entrepreneurs" has been announced.