Chinese manufacturer of commercial vehicles Youtong will put into operation a factory that will manufacture passenger buses in the town of Saran in Kazakhstan’s Karaganda region, the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development said in a press release on Monday.
The enterprise, which will operate on the basis of the former factory of rubber products, will launch its production in December this year. Together with the plant, a whole industrial zone is being revived, which is a city-forming zone for Saran, the Ministry said.
To implement the investment project, a joint venture was created with the participation of the Kazakhstan’s QazTehna LLP and Saryarka SEC JSC and China’s Yutong. The investment amounted to $37.7 million.
About 1200 buses will be produced at the plant per year. This will allow already at the first stage to significantly influence the situation with the worn-out park of public transport in Kazakhstan, according to the statement.
According to analysts, the total number of buses in the country is 12,505 units, of which more than 50 percent are critically obsolete.
Yutong is the world's largest supplier of passenger vehicles with 15% of the global segment market share and 37% of the Chinese market share. The annual sales of Yutong buses are 70,000 units, among them the 25,000 units are electric buses.
The plant in Saran will also produce road-building vehicles and trucks. The product are in great demand among industrial and mining companies in Kazakhstan. It is planned to produce about 400 units of the special machinery per year.
The launch of plant in the industrial zone will create 600 new jobs (taking into account related industries).
