Russia’s West Urals Machine Building Concern and China’s CITIC Pacific Ltd have received a contract at a tender to build a potash fertilizer plant in Uzbekistan’s Kashkadarinsky Region, a spokesperson for Uzbek state company Uzkhimprom told Prime-Tass Thursday.

The total investment in the project will amount to US$123.7 million, of which US$85 million will be spent on the construction of the plant, while the remaining US$38.7 million will be spent on other unspecified facilities for the project, the spokesperson said.

The plant will be built at the Tyubegatansky potassium salt deposit near the Kashkadarinsky Region city of Dekhkanabad.

The plant will consist of a mining complex and a refining complex. The Russian company will spend $48 million on building the mining complex, while the Chinese company will spend $37 million on building the refining complex.

The plant is slated for launch on 1 July 2009. Its capacity is expected to amount to around 200,000 tonnes of potash fertilizers per year.

Based in Perm, West Urals Machine Building Concern, known in Russian as Zapadno-Uralsky mashinostroitelny kontsern, specializes in manufacturing of equipment for mining, oil and gas production, and also hoisting and transportation equipment.

Based in Hong Kong, CITIC Pacific Ltd specializes in steel manufacturing and iron ore mining.