Tag Archives: construction

Workers fight at Astana tower

SEPT. 2 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh riot police intervened in a fight between foreign workers, identified as Indian by Twitter users, and security guards at the Abu Dhabi Plaza construction site in Astana. It is the second major incident at the site, set to be the tallest building in Central Asia, after a fire earlier this year. The fight also shows the tension between foreign workers brought into Kazakhstan to build major infrastructure projects and locals. Kazakhstan has become something of a magnet for migrant workers in the region.

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(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)

Azerbaijani firm wins construction tender

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JULY 24 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijani construction company Akkord has won a $70m road building contract in the Astana region run by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), media reported. The IBRD is linked to the World Bank and is funding a series of projects in the region to improve infrastructure.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Factory to open in Uzbek city

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JUNE 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — Tanotrade, a Swiss company that produces electrical parts, is set to finish constructing a new factory in Nukus, west Uzbekistan, in August, Uzbek media has reported. Reports said that Tenotrade is meeting 80% of the $8m cost of the project, with its local partner, ToshElectroApparat, putting up the rest. It is not clear exactly what products the new factory, called Nukuselektroapparat, will produce but reports said the regional Karakalpak government had offered Tanotrade a series of tax incentives.

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(News report from Issue No. 335, published on July 3 2017)

Kazakhstan’s lending to builders falls

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MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Banks in Kazakhstan are restricting lending to construction companies over concerns that they are failing to pay back loans, the website energyprom.kz reported. It said that at the end of March banks’ loan portfolio to construction projects was 3.8% lower than it had been a year earlier and nearly half the amount of 2008/9. No construction companies commented on the data. The construction sector is one of the drivers of the economy. Any slowdown in activity is a leading indicator that the economy still has some way to go before it recovers from a general malaise since 2014.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Uzbekistan starts building oil refinery

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APRIL 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan started construction of a $2.2b oil refinery near the border with Kazakhstan, a project that will boost jobs and should also plug a yawning fuel supply gap.

The Jizzakh refinery will be Uzbekistan’s fourth and will produce more than 3.7m tonnes of gasoline, more than 700,000 tonnes of jet fuel and about 300,000 tonnes of other oil products annually, according to officials.

It will receive unrefined oil through a yet-to-be-built pipeline from Kazakhstan, helping to cement improving bilateral relations.

The refinery is the most high- profile project initiated under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbek leader since September last year. He has made boosting jobs and improving bilateral relations with Uzbekistan’s neighbours his core policy initiatives.

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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Pipeline from Turkmenistan to India to complete by 2020

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MAY 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pakistan’s ministry of natural resources said that it expected the TAPI gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to northern India to be completed on schedule in 2020. The pipeline is considered vital for Turkmenistan’s economy and also for consumers in Pakistan and India who are hungry for more power.

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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

ADB loans $80m for rail upgrade in Uzbekistan

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APRIL 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved an $80m loan earmarked for the electrification of a 145km stretch of railway in Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Valley. Uzbekistan has been attracting more lending and investment from international financial institutions since Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over as president in September last year.

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(News report from Issue No. 326, published on April 28 2017)

Turkmenistan opens tender for potash plant construction

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APRIL 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan opened a tender process to build a second potash plant, only a couple of weeks after opening the country’s first one. The move appears to be part of a drive aimed at reducing the country’s reliance on gas exports. The price of gas has collapsed since 2014, hitting Turkmenistan’s economy hard. Belarus designed and built the first potash plant but, despite pledges of loyalty and partnership, the contract to build the second plant appears to have been thrown open to all potential suitors.

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(News report from Issue No. 325, published on April 17 2017)

Azerbaijani environmentalist force suspension of gas pipeline

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APRIL 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Reuters reported that a court in Italy ordered the halt of construction work on the final segment of a pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to central Europe to protect an olive grove. Protesters have been complaining that the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) would destroy the ancient grove. TAP is part of the $40b Southern Gas Corridor which is seen as a vital piece of infrastructure for the EU’s gas imports. The suspension of construction work is a temporary measure.

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(News report from Issue No. 324, published on April 13 2017)

New airport terminal and train station to open in Kazakhstan

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APRIL 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s investment minister Zhenis Kasymbek said that a new airport terminal and a new railway station will open in mid-May, less than a month before Astana opens its EXPO-2017 exhibition. Media quoted Mr Kasymbek as saying that after it has been complete, Astana airport will be able to process 7.5m passengers every year. The EXPO-2017 exhibition is being touted as the biggest international festival held by Kazakhstan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has said that he wants to use it to showcase modern day Kazakhstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 324, published on April 13 2017)f