TASHKENT

Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has promised that the government will implement over 5,000 projects totalling $8 billion in the coming five years, in a move to implement fundamental changes in the region’s industrial sector.

Mirziyoyev, while unveiling his election programme during the meeting with voters, said implementation of these projects would create 100,000 new jobs in the region, the president’s press service said.

The project for the construction of a gas chemical complex in the Karakul region is the largest of them. The plant, worth $2.7 billion, will process 1.3 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually and will produce 770,000 tonnes of polymers.

Mirziyoyev also announced plans to implement 180 projects worth $450 million in the textile industry and 282 projects worth over $933 million in the building materials industry. Wind, solar and thermal power plants will be built to meet the energy demands of the population and business sector.

The president’s election programme pays special attention to developing the agricultural industry as agriculture is the main source of income for the rural population. The programme envisages repairing 8,000 kilometres of canals and collectors, as well as introducing water-saving technologies on 126,000 hectares.

Around 100,000 hectares of land will be allocated for growing vegetables and fruits, 15,000 hectares of cotton and grain fields will be reduced and leased to the population on the basis of an open tender, according to the programme.

“In general, 50 trillion soums ($4,6 billion) will be allocated from the state budget for the socio-economic development of the Bukhara region in the next five years, 280,000 new jobs will be created,” the press service said.

Uzbekistan will hold a presidential election on October 24 and Mirziyoyev has been actively carrying out his election campaign across the Central Asian country of around 35 million people. There are four challengers to the incumbent president.