ZHAMBYL REGION. July 13. KAZINFORM /Galina Skripnik/ It took less than two years to build a cement plant in the Moiynkum desert. Recently a 'cold mode' production has been launched at the unique Mynaral field.Mynaral cement plant is a joint venture with the cost of USD 230 mln, whereas 60 percent of

shares belong to the French company 'Vicat Group', which has been in building industry for more than a hundred years and is an undisputed leader in cement production in Europe.

The company's revenue is EURO 2 bln a year. The second partner is 'Homebroker' that holds a 30 percent share. And the third is International Finance Corporation of the World Bank with 10 percent share.

'Vicat Group' General Representative in Kazakhstan Mr. Gerald Guyot was impressed with the Kazakhstan's tight regulatory framework regarding meeting deadlines for the construction and commissioning of facilities. Though the severe weather conditions damage the constructed facilities the works are held as scheduled.

'Formerly we worked in the countries with more favorable climate', Gerald Guyot noted in the interview with Kazinform correspondent. Mr. Gerald already worked on constructing cement plants in Africa, the US and in France.

Gerald Guyot pointed out several advantages of the Kazakh cement plant project such as a raw material base, which is close to the plant and to the highway that connects the plant and the capital Astana that has a lot of building cites now. Besides, the cement is needed at the construction sites of Balkhash Thermal Power Station (37 km away) and the transcontinental highway 'Western Europe - Western China', a long sector of which runs through Zhambyl region.

'We have come here for long and with serious intentions. We can guarantee high quality of our product because we use modern technologies to produce cement brands of M-400 and M-500', Mr. Gerald emphasized.

The plant will be using an advanced 'dry' method of cement production aimed at saving electric power. Besides, this method is considered environmentally safer than the 'wet' one.

Most cement plants in Kazakhstan use wet methods of cement production but these plants are too obsolete and do not meet the requirements.

G. Guyot also emphasized that they built a plant that would meet all environmental standards do no harm to the ecology of the region.

According to him the process of production does not imply any emissions to the atmosphere or water. The plant is equipped with powerful system of electrostatic filter. The plant also has a four step preventive system of any emissions.

'Mynaral plant corresponds to the ecological standards of Euro-4", Mr. Gerald noted.

785 people are employed in constructing the plant, 450 of them are Chinese company's representatives and the rest are local. Upon the completion of the project 350 jobs will be created, trainings are already held.

Technical supervision is at the highest level. It consists of 35 Kazakh engineers, 15 Egyptians, 5 French specialists and 4 from Germany.

'Most of the staff we will hire from the local. We will hire and train 250 people in a year span of time, including 70 that will be trained at our plants in Turkey and France', G. Guyot said.

Within the framework of formation of infrastructure for the plant a 6 km railway was put from the facility to the station Mynaral which in turn was built meeting all modern standards.

The workers now live in a shift camp that has all conveniences. They have a canteen with varied and healthy food. It is planned to build a town in Mynaral, the so-called 'cement plant village' for 600 people.

The production capacity of the first stage of the plant will be 1.2 mln tons a year.   

Mynaral cement plant is expected to provide all Kazakhstan with high-quality cement - as the Head of the State said during the live conference on June 28 devoted to the realization of investment projects of the Forced Industrial-Innovation Development Program.