South Korea's Daewoo Engineering & Construction KRX:047040 has begun work on a large mineral fertilizer plant in Turkmenistan, a project costing around $780 million, a government official close to the negotiations told Reuters on Thursday.
Turkmenistan's President Serdar Berdymukhamedov attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the plant, local television reported.
Daewoo E&C was not immediately available for comment.
Rich in gas reserves but traditionally isolated politically, Turkmenistan has been striving to diversify to produce higher-value-added goods. It primarily exports natural gas to China.
The fertilizer plant is planned to be built within three years in Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan's second-largest city, 450 kilometres east of the capital, Ashgabat.
Its capacity will be 350,000 metric tons of phosphate fertilizers and 100,000 tons of ammonium sulfate per year.