He said that Rahnamo-Nur received license for use of fields. He added that the US bank JP Morgan has issued a guarantee for the Chinese loan. The loan agreement between the venture and the CDB will be signed in March or April 2013.

China National Technical Import & Export Corporation (CNTIC) will be the general contractor for construction of the plant. The contract with the Chinese company will be signed within a month, Mukhitdinov said. The construction works will be conducted in two years.

The Rahnamo-Nur Uzbek-American Joint Venture started construction of the cement plant in Karakalpakstan in 2009. The designed capacity of the plant is 1 million tonnes a year. About 75% stake in the venture is owned by American Platineum Partners, and 25 percent -- by the Uzbek side. The project cost is US$128 million.

Uzbekistan has six cement plants with a total capacity of about 7 million tonnes. In 2012, cement production in Uzbekistan increased by 1.3% to 6.8 million tonnes compared to 2011.