Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev laid the first stone in foundation of a casting-rolling complex of the Uzbek Metallurgy Plant in Bekobod (Tashkent region).

The President of Uzbekistan laid the symbolic first stone, thereby giving the start to the construction of the casting-rolling complex.

The project cost is US$452 million. Uzbek Metallurgy Plant will direct US$91 million to the project and attracted loans for US$361 million of Gazprombank (Russia) and Credit Suisse (Switzerland). The Italian company Danieli will build the casting-rolling complex.

The project is scheduled to be fully commissioned in 2020, which will allow to produce an additional 1 million tons of steel sheets per year and create more than 400 new jobs. In 2021, the volume of production of finished products at the plant is planned to be increased to 2.1 million tons annually.

By reducing the import of rolling sheet, it will be possible to save US$350 million in a year.

At the same time, the annual demand (500 thousand tons) will be fully provided in the hot-rolled sheet, which is the main raw material for constructing Tashkent Metallurgical Plant.