Uzbekistan on Wednesday invited foreign companies to take part in a project to build a 1,500 megawatt (MW) gas power plant in what it wants to become the biggest energy public-private partnership to date, the country's energy ministry said.
The ministry said it has pitched the project to executives from Sumitomo, Mitsui, Engie, EDF , Kepco, AcwaPower, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Marubeni, and other companies who took part in a videoconference.
The proposed deal is for the construction of a combined cycle gas plant in the Central Asian nation's Sirdarya province, the ministry said in a statement.
It did not say whether any companies had expressed an immediate interest or how much the project would cost, but Uzbek news website Gazeta.uz reported last October a figure of around $1.1 billion. The combined capacity of Uzbekistan's existing power plants is 12,400 MW.
Work is already under way on similar public-private projects to build three 200 MW solar power plants in different parts of the former Soviet republic.
Uzbekistan cancelled an investment conference which was due to be held in Tashkent this week, citing the coronavirus outbreak.
