The State Agency for Management of State Assets of Uzbekistan reported that six international and local investors passed the expression of interest stage to acquire 100% state share in Sherobod sement zavodi LLC and 99.55% state share in Shargʻunkoʻmir JSC.
The acceptance of expressions of interest (EoI) was conducted until 23:59 Tashkent time on June 25, 2026. The consulting company Alkes Research acted as the privatization consultant and sent investment teasers to potential strategic and financial investors.
Following the analysis of the submitted applications, it was established that all six participants meet the established requirements for this stage. They will be sent individual letters detailing the next steps and procedures within the privatization process.
In the next stage, participants are required to sign non-disclosure agreements. After this, they will be granted access to a virtual data repository containing financial, legal, and operational information about the enterprises, as well as analytical materials prepared by the consultant.
Participants will also be able to visit the enterprises themselves, study their activities, and familiarize themselves with the work of the management bodies.
The acceptance of binding offers (BOs) will be carried out by the consultant until 23:59 Tashkent time on September 10, 2026. By this date, participants must make a guarantee payment of at least 1% of the amount of their proposed binding price offer through their personal accounts on the E-auksion electronic trading platform.
The guarantee payment will be returned to the participants after the completion of the privatization process. However, for the winner, this payment will be transferred to the Privatization Fund and included in the purchase price of the enterprises.
The consultant will send participants information on bank details to their personal accounts and E-auksion accounts via individual procedural letters.
The Director of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture's Water Resources Department announced the start of work to ensure volumetric water supply to the agricultural sector following the transfer of water management powers to operators. He noted that only a quarter of agricultural water intakes are equipped with smart meters.
According to IRNA from the Ministry of Agriculture, Amir Hedayati mentioned the development of guidelines for transferring water management responsibilities to agricultural operators and organizations. He added that this document is based on Article 40 of the Seventh Development Plan Law and will soon be published, which may pave the way for implementing a volumetric water supply plan in agriculture.
The Director of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture's Water Resources Department emphasized that the development and publication of rules by the Ministry of Energy regarding the transfer of powers to operators and organizations can contribute to the implementation of the volumetric water supply system in agriculture.
He highlighted the need to increase the involvement of operators in water resource management, stating that according to these rules, part of the Ministry of Energy's responsibilities in agricultural water resource management should gradually be transferred to agricultural operators and organizations so that water resource management is carried out with the direct participation of stakeholders.
Hedayati views the transfer of water management powers to operators as a starting point for serious transformations in this field. He noted that volumetric water supply to farmers has been a long-standing demand of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Agriculture requires accurate information on the volume of available water for production planning and investment. The Director of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture's Water Resources Department added that besides ensuring transparency regarding resources and consumption, volumetric water supply can promote accountability, more precise planning, and more effective operator participation in water resource management.
Emphasizing the role of agricultural organizations in water resource management, he stated that without the cooperation and participation of operators and stakeholders, the implementation of water sector reform projects is extremely difficult, and favorable results cannot be expected from new policies without the active presence of people and organizations in the agricultural sector.
Hedayati reported that since the approval and announcement of the Law on Fair Water Distribution, the Ministry of Energy is obliged to implement volumetric water supply in agriculture in at least 15 annual laws and medium-term programs of the country. However, little success has been achieved in fulfilling this obligation in the field of surface water.
In the area of groundwater, only about 125,000 out of approximately 416,000 authorized agricultural water intakes were equipped with volumetric smart meters, which accounts for less than 25 percent.
The Director of the General Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture's Water Resources Department noted that this situation causes significant uncertainty in the agricultural sector regarding the volume of available water, hindering the development of necessary and reliable plans for investment and business operations.
He identified the lack of sufficient will to implement volumetric supply as one of the main obstacles to water resource management reform, acknowledging that the necessary will to address this issue has not been sufficiently expressed in recent years.
Hedayati suggested that part of the problem may be related to conflicts of interest in water resource management, as volumetric water supply and increased transparency regarding resources and consumption can reveal existing conflicts of interest in this area.
Referring to the high proportion of structural projects in the country's water resource management, he said that structural projects, especially dam construction, divert a significant portion of the water sector's energy and credits, and the strong inclination of leaders in this sector towards implementing structural projects limits the opportunities and resources needed for certain managerial and reformative measures.
The Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance emphasized the need to strengthen interaction between banks, increase discipline within the banking network, and accelerate support for the production sector and economic enterprises during the meeting of the Council for the Coordination of State Banks.
According to IRNA, the meeting of the Council for the Coordination of State Banks was chaired by Seyid Ali Madanizadeh, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance. During this meeting, the most important issues and topics concerning the banking system were discussed. Topics such as enhancing bank cybersecurity, supporting affected economic enterprises, financing and returning enterprises to the production cycle, and certain aspects of banking operations were discussed.
Madanizadeh, stressing the significance of the banking system's role in financing the economy, demanded that banks pay more attention to directing resources and accelerating the provision of services and conditions necessary for various economic sectors.
The Minister of Economy also noted the need for closer coordination within the banking network, emphasizing the importance of accurately implementing announced policies and duties, as well as strengthening control over banking activities.
Highlighting the importance of supporting damaged enterprises and the necessity of accelerating the process of recovery and returning these facilities to the production cycle, the Minister of Economy stated that various opportunities within the financial system should be used to maintain economic activity and preserve jobs.
Furthermore, Madanizadeh focused on the need to pay attention to major industries and utilize the potential of the capital market to finance and revitalize enterprises, as well as to support knowledge-based companies.
The Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance reported that meetings are held quarterly with bank CEOs separately, where policies and issues noted by the ministry are carefully studied, and reports from these meetings serve as the basis for decisions made by the Ministry of Economy.
The Chairman of the Board of the Association of Railway Transport and Related Services emphasized the high resilience of the country's transport system. He noted that by implementing managerial, political, and programmatic measures, the cargo capacity and passenger flow of the existing railway and road network can be increased by up to fifty percent without the need for large-scale infrastructure development.
According to IRNA, Sobhan Nazari stated during a press conference on Monday the importance of this resilience. He pointed out that there is currently a kind of competition for stability, as the Persian Gulf is a major international waterway, and any restrictions on it affect not only Iran but also the economies of other countries dependent on raw material and goods supplies.
Nazari added that the potential of the country's railway and road transport network should be assessed beyond current conditions. Any volume of goods entering the country through ports must subsequently be transported via the land transport network, including railways and roads.
Referring to trends in freight transportation over the last decade, he reported that the total volume of freight transported by road and rail in Iran has grown from approximately 211 billion ton-kilometers to 329 billion ton-kilometers. This growth occurred against the backdrop of sanctions and various economic difficulties faced by the country.
The Chairman of the Board of the Association of Railway Transport and Related Services continued, noting that Iran's economy, calculated by purchasing power parity, is among the largest global economies, and the size and efficiency of the transport network are proportional to this position. Analysis of indicators such as the length of railway and road networks, the number of vehicles, wagons, and trucks, shows that Iran ranks among 15–20 countries in the world across many of these parameters, and the size of the country's transport network has been expanding over the last two to three decades.
Nazari specified that although productivity in some sectors, including road transport, may temporarily decrease during crises, the long-term trend of freight transportation in the country remains upward, indicating the significant resilience of Iran's transport system. He also noted that the diversity of road and rail border connections and access to various ports make Iran one of the countries with a high diversity of transport routes, while its road and rail networks are among the longest in the world.
The Association Chairman stressed that the diversity of routes and the vastness of the network have increased the country's resilience to disruptions. In some cases, the stability of the transport network exceeded initial forecasts, preventing the realization of pressure goals exerted on the country. However, he emphasized that from a transport perspective, Iran is capable of succeeding in the competition for resilience, but the railway and road networks are used inefficiently, and a significant portion of the available capacity remains unused.
Nazari reiterated that through a set of programmatic, managerial, and political measures, without the need for capital construction of new infrastructure, cargo and passenger transport on the existing network can be increased by up to 50 percent. Consequently, there are no serious concerns about the physical capacity of the network; the main problem lies in improving productivity and reforming the management approach.
The Association Chairman also pointed out that low productivity and quality in the transport sector are fundamental problems of the country's economy. The productivity of trucks and wagons in Iran is estimated at about one-third to one-fourth of optimal global standards, and the productivity of the railway network is about one-tenth to one-fifteenth of global norms. Sobhan Nazari, commenting on the gap between the transport industry and the media, added that managers and experts in the transport industry are not closely connected enough with the media, so the problems of this sector have not become a sufficiently public concern.
Regarding wagon imports, he reported that under current conditions, the import of cargo and passenger wagons is prohibited, while the import of locomotives is possible under certain conditions. Nevertheless, transport activists believe that owning wagons is more important now than their production. Nazari also noted that the share of rail transport in the country's freight transport currently accounts for about 8 percent, whereas the five-year plan aimed to reach 30 percent in freight transport and 20 percent in passenger transport, which was not achieved. The reason cited for not reaching these goals is the shortage of rolling stock, and liberalizing wagon imports could partially solve this problem, but this does not mean ignoring the capabilities of domestic producers. He stressed that local wagon manufacturers have sufficient capacity to meet the country's needs, and it is incorrect to say there is no production potential. The main problem in recent years has been the lack of orders and reduced investment attractiveness in the railway industry. Nazari referred to Article 12 of the Law on Removing Barriers to Competitive Production and Improving the Country's Financial System, according to which the government committed to paying for the purchase price of wagons for several years after they began operation. Implementing this commitment could increase the internal rate of return on investment and reduce the payback period. He called on the government to increase the industry's investment attractiveness by utilizing the potential of the Energy Optimization and Strategic Management Organization. The Association Chairman concluded that the decision on the necessity of importing wagons can be made after creating economic attractiveness and attracting investors, as imports must be carried out within the framework of real market demand and after utilizing existing capacities.
Concerning the activities of funds and so-called 'quasi-state' structures, Nazari noted that some of them, despite lacking state shares, are managed in a state-like manner, and their results are subject to strong fluctuations. Last year, subsidiaries of the Railway Workers' Savings Fund were able to achieve a profit 130 percent higher compared to the previous year. Part of this growth is related to inflation, and another part to the better performance of the subsidiaries, but a sharp increase in profit in one year may indicate the instability of these structures and does not guarantee the continuation of such a trend. He also noted that large-scale enterprise management always involves managerial risks, and even in the private sector, a change in CEO can seriously affect the company's financial performance. Nevertheless, experience has shown that the private economy is usually managed more flexibly, productively, and honestly, so it is proposed that funds and similar structures distance themselves from direct enterprise management. Instead of owning 90 or 100 percent of enterprises, they could manage their capital as a diversified portfolio of about 200 types of short-term and liquid investments, including stocks, securities, gold funds, and other financial instruments.
The Association Chairman, commenting on the impact of fuel prices on competition between rail and road transport, stated that the very low price of gasoline and diesel fuel in Iran artificially keeps the costs of road and passenger transport low, allowing cargo owners and passengers to easily choose the road option. He compared this to the situation in the 20 largest global economies, where about half of the cargo is transported by mass transit, and in some countries, the combined share of railways and inland waterways reaches 80 percent, whereas Iran lacks effective inland waterways, and the share of railways is only about 8 percent. Nazari suggested that a reasonable, gradual fuel reform, accompanied by complementary transport policies, could lead to an increase in public transport capacity, especially rail. However, before implementing such a policy, real development of public transport must be ensured to make more passenger carriages and buses accessible to the population.
He also noted that the long-term effect of price reform will be more rational decision-making in other sectors of the economy. For example, some steel mills were built in locations far from water resources or ports and do not have a good export position; however, due to the small share of fuel and transport costs in initial calculations, their poor location proved to be economically justifiable. The consequences of such location decisions can persist in the country's economy for decades or even centuries, as limited water resources must be allocated to these industries, and a large amount of fuel is consumed for transporting raw materials and products. Nazari stressed that the real cost and opportunity cost of diesel fuel are not taken into account in industrial placement calculations, as transport costs constitute a very small share of production costs. For instance, in the financial statements of some Iranian steel companies, transport costs may account for only 2–2.5 percent of revenue, whereas this figure is significantly higher in comparable foreign companies. He concluded that hidden subsidies on energy, water, and transport accumulate in the financial statements of some industries, increasing their profit margins, while in most large global companies, annual profitability is more constrained. As a result, some links in the value chain become highly profitable due to energy rents and hidden subsidies, while others incur costs, meaning logistics, water resources, and the power grid support the profitability of poorly located industries.
