Nursultan Nazarbayev launches an electric locomotive plant, one of EDB's major projects in Kazakhstan
Almaty, 4 December 2012. An electric locomotive plant was opened today in the Astana Industrial Park. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev started the first locomotive built by the new enterprise. Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), which provided finance for the project, was represented at the opening ceremony by Marat Jaukenov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, and Kanat Dosmukametov, Managing Director for Project Activities.
Under the loan agreement, EDB has provided to the Elektrovoz Kurastyru Zauyty (EKZ) plant a ten-year loan facility of 10 billion tenge (more than US $66 million). The overall project value exceeds 18 billion tenge.
EKZ is a joint venture which has been set up specifically for the project. Its founders are Remlokomotiv, a subsidiary of the Kazakstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) national company (Kazakhstan’s national rail operator), Alstom Holdings (a French corporation and one of the leaders in the market in railroad machinery and equipment), and Transmashholding (Russia’s largest transport engineering company).
The new plant will manufacture four-, six- and eight-axle electric locomotives with asynchronous traction motors using Alstom technologies. The locomotives will be used to transport freight and passengers. Alstom and Transmashholidng will supply components and parts. The expected output of the plant is 100 locomotive sections a year.
In the first place, locomotives will be used to meet the growing demand of Kazakhstan’s railroads. Up to 40% of products are expected to be exported to the CIS countries.
When the Bank opened finance for this project it understood how important it was to the country. Over the lending period, the gross output in Kazakhstan’s economy will exceed US $222 million a year. The plant will create 650 jobs.
The project has also contributed to an increase in mutual investment
between the Bank member states. Russia’s Transmashholding was one of its
originators and
«All projects in the member states of our Bank in the area of railroad engineering have a significant integration component. They foster the development of mutual trade and strengthen the single transport space of the CIS countries because the CIS railroads have a common standard gauge and this determines the technical parameters of the rolling stock purchased in the region,» Igor Finogenov, Chairman of the EDB Management Board, says. «These projects also have a strong sustainable development effect since they are aimed at developing transport infrastructure and industrial exports.»
Today’s event confirms this statement. During the opening ceremony agreements were signed right in the workshop to supply diesel locomotives made by Kazakhstan’s Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty plant in Astana to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
In this context the head of EDB emphasised that the Bank has invested over US $500 million in this sector. In addition to EKZ, EDB’s investment portfolio includes three other projects: US $330 million were provided to build the Tikhvin Freight Car Building Plant in Russia, over US 63 million for the Osipovichi Railcar Building Plant in Belarus, and US $56 million for the Yeskene Railcar Service Centre in Kazakhstan.
Eurasian Development Bank is an international financial institution founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 with the mission to facilitate the development of market economies, sustainable economic growth and the expansion of mutual trade and other economic ties in its member states. EDB’s charter capital exceeds US $1.5 billion. The member states of the Bank are the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan. Read more at https://www.eabr.org.