KHUJAND, November 7, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Closed joint-stock company (CJSC) AMUR (Vehicles and Engines of Ural) based in the Russian city of Norilsk is studying the possibility of assembling municipal machines at the Chkalovsk automobile plant (CAZ) in the Tajik northern province of Sughd.

The CAZ director Bakhtiyor Ashourov told Asia-Plus that a trilateral protocol of intent had been signed here between the AMUR, Sughd regional administration and the Chkalovsk-based state unitary enterprise Vostokredmet (CAZ is an affiliate of Vostokredmet).

“The sides are currently considering a theoretical scheme of such a production,” said Ashourov, “If the sides come to an agreement a group of the AMUR specialists will arrive in Chkalovsk to study the possibility of launching the production line.”

The Chkalovsk automobile plant had previously been a Tajik-Russian joint venture.  It had assembled medium-sized buses; bus bodies had been manufactured in Chkalovsk itself while other components had been delivered from Russia’s automobile plant ZIL.