OSTCHEM Holding doubles investment in OJSC Crimean Soda Plant in 2007
OSTCHEM Holding, comprising major chemical enterprises and companies in Germany, Ukraine, Estonia, Russia, Switzerland, Italy and Tajikistan, last year doubled investment in the re-equipment and production expansion at OJSC Crimean Soda Plant. The volume of investment in 2007 amounted to 99.7m hryvnas (UHR) - an increase of 46.9m, or almost double the previous year’s investment.
The biggest investment projects of 2007 included: the assembly of four high speed vacuum filters for reducing moisture and chlorine content in sodium bicarbonate; capital repairs to the primary carbonating tower; the makeover of the gas pipeline bridge; and the commissioning of a water desalination unit. Considerable work was also carried out for the installation of a 6 MW turbine and the construction of a medium-pressure trunk gas pipeline. Construction, assembly and commissioning works on these projects are to be completed in March 2008.
The Crimean Soda Plant executed in full its program of servicing the operating production facilities. Repairs were completed on cooling towers 1 and 8 and bank protection works were carried out on the industrial waste storage and evaporation pond on Lake Krasnoye. In 2007 the Plant also embarked on the strategic task of acquiring its own limestone raw materials base on the territory of the North Baksan deposit in Crimea’s Belogorsky district. On the raw materials base already available the Crimean Soda Plant is planning in the near future to begin production of beta-carotene, calcium chloride and white salt.
2007 saw the Crimean Soda Plant vigorously expand its production and managerial potential. In the course of an exchange auction in December last year the company acquired the assets of the Crimea Salt Company Ltd. and is planning to use this companies’ facilities to begin production of white salt as soon as July 2008. Also in 2007 the company adopted a corporate management system embracing book keeping and inventory control, as well as personnel management. The move went a long way towards increasing the transparency of the company’s financial and business operations and lays the groundwork for creating a comprehensive system for managing information which should dramatically improve the Plant’s management.
Yury Borisov, CEO of OSTCHEM Holding, summed up these investment activities:
“The Crimean Soda Plant is one of the most important enterprises incorporated in the Holding. We aim to create a state-of-the-art world-class production facility that will have pride of place in Ukraine’s chemical industry and make an important contribution to the economy of Ukraine”.