Colombia: The president of Cemex Colombia, Carlos Jacks, has provided details of the US$340m plant the company plans to build in Maceo, Antioquia Department. The plant will be the first that Cemex constructs entirely from scratch outside of Mexico; in the past it has simply expanded existing plants abroad. The plant will increase Cemex's Colombian production capacity from 4.50Mt/yr to 5.50Mt/yr.
The plant will be able to use 50% of alternative fuels, either biomass or tyre residue, although initially the plant will use coal. Maceo has been chosen due to its central location in reference to the Prosperidad roads, which will connect it well with the rest of the country.
The plant has great potential due to the 4G road projects, which require US$26bn of investments from 2016. As cement makes up 10% of the investment costs, this means US$520m will be spent on 2Mt of cement each year. When combined with Colombia's established cement market, demand in the country will reach around 14Mt/yr.
