The launching of environmentally hazardous enterprises will be halted in Tashkent and Nukus cities as well as in the regional centres. This is specified in the president's decree on implementing the state program by 2025 as indicated.
According to the document, taking into account the suggestions of the wide public, international and local eco-activists, the Ecological Party of Uzbekistan, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environmental Protection and Climate Change, the following new projects will be prohibited from May 1, 2025, in Tashkent and Nukus cities and regional centers:
- asbestos, cement production, slags, and slimes;
- leather and poultry farming factories;
- any type of coal burning un-equipped with high efficiency dust and gas cleaning facilities;
- ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy plants, dealing with toxic mixtures in glass, working with toxic chemical substances;
- enterprises for processing and burning of wastes belonging to the I and II class of hazard.
It is planned to completely ban the use of mazut as fuel in the heat and power generating enterprises located in all regions of the republic. The use of mazut as an emergency fuel, upon informing the Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change and in agreement with the Cabinet of Ministers, will be an exception.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change, in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Investments, Industry, and Trade, and local administrations must submit substantiated proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers by October 1, 2025, for the gradual relocation of high environmental impact facilities and existing capacities in the high energy-consuming sectors from Tashkent and Nukus cities and regional centers.
