Turkish construction company GAP Insaat, part of industrial group Calik Holding, opened a $160m factory in Turkmenistan, it was reported on February 14, 2005. The cement factory has an annual capacity of one million tonnes and will employ 585. The plant is expected to meet the demands of the local market, where the annual cement imports stand at 1.5Mt.
Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov, known as Saparmurat Turkmenbashi, attended the opening ceremony of the cement plant. After the opening of this factory the price of the imported cement to Turkmenistan, which currently varies between US$70 and $60 per tonne, could decrease to US$50 and $40 per tonne, Niyazov said. Turkmenistan imports cement from Iran and Uzbekistan.
On March 15, 2005, Calik Holding will put into operation its $240 mln (185.14 mln euro) fertiliser factory in Turkmenistan, Calik said. Since Turkmenistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the investments in the country have reached $8.0bn of which $4.5bn were carried out by Turkish firms. Set up in 1980, GAP Insaat has completed about 40 projects in Turkmenistan, Turkey and other countries since 1993. In Turkmenistan the projects of GAP Insaat reached $1.0bn,
