KHUJAND, July 8, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Nobody wants to invest in rehabilitation of the textiles enterprise, Kabool-Tajik Textiles, which has been not in operation since March 2008.

Khujand Mayor Sodiq Mirkholiqov said in an interview with Asia-Plus that no company would invest in the enterprise that has debts amounting to 75 million U.S. dollars.  “Moreover, equipment installed at the enterprise has already become obsolete that makes it noncompetitive, even if it is re-launched,” the mayor said.

According to him, they are currently negotiating the way of coming out of that situation with Orienbonk, one of Tajikistan’s largest commercial banks.  “There is hope that the enterprise will be reintroduced into operation in the near future,” Mirkholiqov said.

Kabool-Tajik Textiles is the Tajik-Korean joint venture.  Tajik open-joint-stock company (OJSC) Abreshim (Silk) owned 44 percent of the shares and South Korea’s Kabool LTD assumes the 56% ownership interest in the enterprise.

As it had been reported earlier, Abreshim in October 2008 sold its equity stake in Kabool-Tajik Textiles to Zarin Holding Limited, a company based in the United Kingdom, at 500,000 US dollars.  

In former times, Kabool-Tajik Textiles had accounted for 24 percent of the volume of industrial goods produced in northern Tajikistan, while at present the joint venture owes more than $75 million to its creditors.