ASTANA (Kazakh Invest press service) — China’s HKC Corporation Limited plans to build a TV assembly plant in Kostanai, north Kazakhstan, to produce three million TVs a year, National Company Kazakh Invest says in a press release.

The shareholders of the Chinese company HKC Corporation Limited (PRC) visited the Industrial Zone of Kostanay last week, where they met with Archimedes Mukhambetov, akim (“governor”) of Kostanay Region.

HKC is among the five Chinese companies involved in the production of monitors and televisions. In Kostanay they project to build an assembly plant with an initial investment of some $20 mln. The planned capacity is 3 mln units per year. Li Jin, vice president of the company said:

The advantage of Kostanay for us is the close location with Russia, and with other CIS countries. We have big plans for implementing the above project and we intend to study everything, and then start to implement.

Our main goal now is to reach the world level. There is already an assembly plant in Holland, where 2 million TV sets are produced per year. In the CIS, we intend to build a plant with a capacity of 3 million TV sets a year.

Furthermore, according to Chinese investors, the project will create 500 jobs which will be recruited among the local population. In addition, HKC Corporation Limited intends to participate in the dual training program for college students in the region.

Akim of the region A. Mukhambetov reminded that a number of joint projects with Chinese companies are already being implemented in Kostanay oblast. For example, the region is implementing a project to produce cars, as well as a project for the integrated processing of agricultural products:

Today, for investors, we offer the territory of the industrial zone. We are already implementing 11 projects here. Most importantly, when compared with the Russian Federation, we have the same rates for corporate tax of 20%, but at a 6% less VAT rate than in Russian. They have 18%, we have 12%.

We are ready to cooperate with your company. The market of electronics on which your company is based is free in Kazakhstan. We mainly import such equipment — about 90%. When implementing your project, the technology will be able to provide not only the entire country, but also Russia. We are open to mutually beneficial cooperation and guarantee comprehensive support.

As for the Kostanay Industrial Zone itself, Mukhambetov recalled that at present it is almost ready: engineering networks have been built, a railway dead-end, roads are under construction:

Now the plant for the production of tractors and the plant for the production of building materials are already being built here, as well as the project with the Chinese side for deep processing of wheat, which will be exported to China. As for HKC, they plan to produce TVs and computers. At the first stage, the company plans to invest $20 mln. I think that in the near future, the issue will be resolved and in 2019, perhaps, we will launch the plant.