KHUJAND, February 17, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- On Wednesday February 16, Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov visited Sughd province to get acquainted with installation work at the Sughd-500 substation and preparation of pump stations for irrigation season.

A number of ministers and department heads accompanied the prime minister on the trip to northern Tajikistan.

In the morning, Oqilov visited Ghonchi district, where he familiarized himself with the progress of installation work at the Sughd-500 substation.

In Mastchoh district, the prime minister got acquainted with the process of preparation of the pump station, Dilvarzin-1, for the irrigation season.

While in Mastchoh, Oqilov also visited the site for construction of the spinning mill, Olim-Textiles.  The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) has provided a US$22 million loan for construction of this enterprise and equipment for this factory has been purchased from German  company, Textima.

The annual capacity of Olim-Textiles will be 6,000 tons of cotton thread.  The factory is expected to create 450 new jobs for local residents.  In the future, the enterprise plans to launch workshops for producing socks and men’s and women’s  clothing.