N. Nazarbayev: Establishment of Electrolysis Plant in short period is Kazakhstan's grandiose achievement

"As a metallurgist I have always dreamt of having such plant in our country, but we were not strong enough to build it those years. Due to our independence and private investments we could make our dream come true. I have been observing the course of construction of this giant from the first days. You remember how we laid foundation of this plant, how we launched the first stage together.

Now we face not less difficult challenge - to build plants, factories and moving away from primary commodity dependence. By 2020 we must increase economy by 30%-40%, create 25, 000 jobs and build 237 enterprises worth KZT 7.3 trln. This is a grandiose task. Nobody will provide us with new technologies and money. We must ourselves create conditions for investors, build plants and create jobs.

This year we plan to commission 144 projects. It is huge work and high achievement. Your electrolysis plant is one of 30 corporate leaders of the country, a real cluster of ore, alumina and aluminum. In future we will establish more enterprises which will manufacture various products from aluminum.

The demand for aluminum will rise in the nearest year. I think we will need the third unit of the plant with 125 thousand t/y capacity. We possess enough potential for this - cheap energy and workforces.

The independent Kazakhstan performed huge work having launched such plant. The project costs USD 850 mln, an anode plant worth over USD 250 mln is being built.

This is made to increase incomes to the budget, improve the people's well-being. The average salary at this plant is KZT 150 thousand. That's a good indicator.

Dear friends! I take great pleasure in participating in launch of this giant metallurgical venture together with you. I express gratitude to ENRC and all metallurgists for their hard work and for great achievement in implementation of our industrialization program", the President said.