Uzbekistan GTL LLC reduces staff on construction site from 11 to 2 thousand due to infection cases

On August 1, the Minister of Energy Alisher Sultanov chaired the extended meeting of the Ministry and JSC Uzbekneftegaz at the construction site of the GTL plant in the Kashkadarya region.

The meeting reviewed the current pace of implementation of the GTL investment project: the scope of the plant’s construction, installation and pre-assembly works, as well as the epidemiological situation in the area.

According to the press service of the Ministry, the implementation of the investment project is now in the final stage, as 90% of the planned work has been finished. 

Despite a number of preventive measures, cases of coronavirus infection have recently been registered on the construction site, which led to a significant reduction in the number of workers from 11 thousand to 2 thousand. However, these are reported to be temporary measures. The drastic reduction in the number of workers on the site was caused by the testing for coronavirus of all workers on the territory of the plant. Gradually, the number of employees will increase depending on the test results,” the press service reported.

Managers are currently making a schedule for the sending of foreign specialists to their home country, as well as for the mobilization of new workers from the regions of Uzbekistan and from abroad to the construction site in order to continue the construction and installation work at the planned pace.

It is planned to send citizens of India, Vietnam and China back home, who have been working on the project for a long period of time without leave, and to replace them with appropriate candidates.

On the territory of the construction site, there is a quarantine zone for 1,400 people and a hospital with 400 beds. There is also a special laboratory with all the necessary medical equipment, including equipment for PCR testing, oxidizers, pulse meters and others. Five ambulances and thirty medical specialists are working round the clock and a reserve of essential drugs has been created.