Two major industrial facilities backed by Chinese capital will be built in the Abai region: the regional akim has signed agreements with Inner Mongolia Wanjiang Investment and Xinjiang Sanbao Industrial Group to construct an electrolytic aluminium plant and a particleboard plant. Total investment in both projects is estimated at $1.5 billion, according to infohub.kz.
The documents were signed at the Kazakhstan–China investment forum. The larger of the two projects is a plant producing 300,000 tonnes of electrolytic aluminium a year. To power the facility, a 1 GW wind power plant is to be built.
Of the total $1.5 billion in investment, $1 billion will go to the aluminium plant. The project includes an electrolysis shop, anode assembly and crushing shops, and supporting infrastructure. The plant will use 630 kA electrolytic cells and energy-saving electrolysis technology.
Construction is scheduled to begin in March 2027 and be completed in December 2028. The project will lay the groundwork for further metal processing and will create new jobs, tax revenue and demand for the services and products of related industries.
The second project is a particleboard (chipboard) plant with a capacity of 2 million sheets a year. Investment in this facility is estimated at $172 million, to be financed by the investors themselves.
The plant will process up to 300,000 cubic metres of wood a year. This refers to the processing of burnt and substandard timber, windfall and other wood residues from areas affected by forest fires. No healthy trees will be felled for the project.
The plant's output will target the Kazakh market and exports to Central Asian countries. The project is to be implemented in 2027–2028. Once launched, the facility will create 120 permanent jobs, plus 80 temporary ones during construction.
Inner Mongolia Wanjiang Investment Group operates in coal mining and transportation, energy, equipment manufacturing and construction. The company's annual revenue exceeds 5 billion yuan, and the group includes more than 30 subsidiaries and controlled companies.
Xinjiang Sanbao Industrial Group has operated in Central Asia for more than 30 years and has a permanent representative office in Kazakhstan. The combined foreign trade turnover of the group's companies exceeds $12 billion. In the region it has delivered more than 50 major EPC projects, including design, procurement, construction and the organisation of cross-border supplies.
It was previously reported that ERG would build a full-cycle aluminium plant for almost $1 billion by 2029.