Nepal: Two private companies have signed an agreement of joint venture investment worth US$300m for cement production in Nepal. The investment, one of the biggest in Nepal's cement sector, has a 7:3 equity structure between Hongshi Holdings Limited of China and Nepal's Shiva Cement.
"This project will adopt a dry process with the use of 95% domestic raw materials," Xu Youyuan, Executive Vice President of the Chinese company said at the signing ceremony. He added that Hongshi had been attracted to Nepal's market by its booming cement industry in 2012.
Addressing the ceremony, Finance Minister of Nepal, Ram Sharan Mahat, said that the signing of this project was a landmark between the economic ties of the two neighbours and that he was happy to see that Chinese investors had shown confidence in Nepal. He even suggested that Nepal might become a net exporter of cement in the coming years.