On Oct. 30, ministers from the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program member countries endorsed an action plan that sets out priority projects for the region's transport infrastructure, energy and trade sectors.

Under the Wuhan Action Plan, CAREC member countries will benefit from $23 billion worth of projects supported by the Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Monetary Fund, Islamic Development Bank, U.N. Development Program, World Bank, and bilateral donor agencies from France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The bulk of the budget will go to 68 medium-term transport initiatives that will help create six major corridors to link ports in eastern China with Caucasus and beyond. The rest goes to trade facilitation, and includes provisions for technical assistance and investments in border services, customs information technology systems and logistics centers.

The plan also outlined action items for the energy sector, such as resolving regional energy dispatch issues, managing energy and water linkages, mobilizing funds for building energy assets, and knowledge management. Trade policy actions were also endorsed to enable CAREC countries to "adopt more open trade regimes and facilitate intra-and interregional trade."

Unveiled at the 11th gathering of CAREC ministers in Wuhan, China, the plan also highlights the "critical role" of a 2013-17 work plan and sets out sector operational priorities. The plan is instrumental in tracking the region's progress toward CAREC 2020 - a development road map that aims to expand trade and improve competitiveness in Central Asia.

Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are the 10 countries comprising CAREC.

Uzbekenergo company will begin modernizing the Charvak hydropower station, the largest hydroelectric power station in the Chirchik Bozsu cascade of hydropower plants.

The project cost is $53.9 million. It is planned to modernize four hydroelectric generating units of Charvak hydropower station to increase the power of each unit from current 155 MW to 175 MW till 2016. The project implementation will ensure additional power generation with a volume of 120 million kWh.

The general contractor of the project is Russian company "Power Machines".

Unitary Enterprise Cascade-Orta Chirchik HPP, part of the State Joint-Stock Company Uzbekenergo and Russian Power Machines signed a contract for the modernisation of the Charvak hydroelectric generating units in the Tashkent region of Uzbekistan.

Under the contract, the Russian company will work on the upgrading of three hydroelectric power plants with a capacity of 155 MW, replace the stator winding and install a new excitation system. Power machines will produce three working wheels of hydraulic turbines for the first, second and fourth generating units.

In addition, modernisation of the hydro part of the regulators and the oil pressure systems and reconstruction of hydroelectric system of automatic control system with the creation of visual monitoring and control at the level of HPS will be implemented at all four hydroelectric stations.

Charvak HPP is the leading and most powerful hydroelectric power station in the Chirchik-Bozsu group of hydropower station complexes on the river Chirchik in Uzbekistan. Hydroelectric power is 620 MW; the average annual generation is two billion kW / h.

According to official statistics, Uzbekistan increased electricity production by 1.3 per cent up to 52.416 billion kilowatt-hours in 2011 compared to 2010.

The report said that the working group was entrusted to speed up work on development and approval of pre-project documentation on construction of complex by the end of 2012.

According to the source's assessment, it is planned to complete preliminary feasibility study of the project and optimal financing schemes in 2013.

The governmental representative said that this will allow to start construction of complex in the beginning of 2014.

Uzbekneftegaz national holding company and Singapore's Indorama Group created a joint venture on creation of gas chemical complex on parity terms in May 2012.

The preliminary project of the cost is US$2.5 billion. The capacity of the plant will be 500,000 tonnes of polyethylene a year. The project will be implemented within three years.

The project will be financed due to resources of Indorama, loan of Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan and own resources of Uzbekneftegaz.

Uzbekneftegaz and Indorama signed a memorandum of cooperation in 2010, which envisages technological and financial participation of Singaporean company in creation of production of diversified products (polymers and polyethylene) on the base of Mubarek gas processing plant.

Mubarek gas processing plant has been commissioned in 1971. Currently the capacity of the plant is about 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas and over 570,000 tonnes of gas condensate a year.

In 2001, Uzbekneftegaz launched Shortan Gas Chemical Complex on the base of Shortan gas condensate field in Kashkadarya region with the cost of US$985 million. The project capacity of the complex is 3.9 billion cubic meters of gas. It produces 125,000 tonnes of polyethylene, 100,000 tonnes of liquefied gas, and 100,000 tonnes of instable condensate a year.

Currently, Uzbekneftegaz in cooperation with Korean consortium led by Kogas are implementing a project on construction of Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex on the base of Surgil deposit in northern-western Uzbekistan. The complex will be able to process 4 billion cubic meters of gas a year and produce 400,000 tonnes of polyethylene and 100,000 tonnes of polypropylene a year. The project cost is US$4.2 billion.