Turkey's Bursel to launch $44 mln textile plant in Uzbekistan by year-end

Interfax October 8 Turkey's Bursel Textile Industry, set up by the Uzbek joint venture Bursel-Tashkent, will launch a plant to make knitwear products for $44 million in Churchik, Tashkent region, by the end of 2004, a source in Bursel's representation in Uzbekistan told Interfax. The source said balancing and commissioning work is finishing up at the plant and the first products are expected to be received in November. The plant has a projected capacity of 5,000 tonnes of knitting fibers and 56 million units of knitwear products a year. The launch of the plant will create 1,200 new jobs. All of the plants production will be exported. The project is being financed by a $13 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, $19.5 million from the joint venture's charter capital and with Bursel's own resources. Bursel-Tashkent is one of the first private companies in Uzbekistan that processes cotton fiber. Bursel Textile Industry owns 94% percent of the company. Its Uzbek founders are Uzbeklegprom and the administration of Tashkent region.