Displaying items by tag: Government

Saudi Arabia: Al Baha Cement plans to build a 6000t/day plant that will manufacture sulfate-resisting Portland cement (SRPC). The company is looking for bids for a financial consultancy contract for the new plant, according to Inside International Industrials. The project is expected to cost US$100m, which will be raised from banks. The Minister of Commerce and Industry has approved the license for establishing the company. Tendering for engineering, procurement and construction is expected to occur in the second of half of 2018.

India: The government of Haryana is investigating the transfer of around 122 acres belonging to the Associated Cement Companies’ (ACC) closed Bhupendra Cement plant to a Mumbai-based builder. According to Kalka MLA Latika Sharma, the land’s lease said it could only be used for industrial use, according to the Times of India newspaper. However, the builder it has been transferred to intends to build a town. Education minister Ram Bilas Sharma Sharma told the state congress that the Haryana Police had gathered ‘strong’ material on alleged irregularities in the entire issue and the government had decided to get the matter probed by the state vigilance bureau. The Bhupendra Cement plant at Surajpur near Pinjore was originally built in 1937. It was closed in 1997 on environmental grounds.

India: Nitin Gadkari, the Minister Of Road Transport And Highways, says that the government is considering taking action against cement producers for cartel activity, according to the ET Now television channel. The sector has faced various claims of alleged cartel-like activity. In early 2017 the Competition Commission of India found seven cement companies guilty of bid rigging and cartelisation and imposed a total fine of nearly US$30m on them. This followed a US$1bn fine levied on ACC, ACL, Binani, Century, India Cements, JK Cement, Lafarge, Ramco, UltraTech, Jaiprakash Associates and the Cement Manufacturers Association in August 2016.

Tanzania: The government has given Tanzania Portland Cement two months to reduce its dust emissions or face closure. Alphaxard Kangi Lugola, the Deputy Minister of State in the Vice President's Office (Union and Environment), said that dust from the plant was causing health issues with local residents, according to the Citizen newspaper. The National Environment Management Council will monitor the plant for compliance. The cement producer said that the plant would work on reducing its emissions.

India: The Ministry of Coal has cancelled Jaypee Cement’s coal block at Mandla in Madhya Pradesh citing breach of agreement. In a letter the ministry said that the cement producer was ‘not serious about the development of the coal mine,’ according to the Business Standard newspaper. The ministry has accused Jaypee Cement of switching the plant using coal from the mine without permission and of exceeding the agreed output.

The Mandla coal mine was allocated to Jaypee Cement in March 2015 after a bidding process. At first it supplied Jaypee’s Balaji cement plant in Andhra Pradesh. However, production from the mine switched to the Shahabad cement plant in June 2017 following the acquisition of the Balaji plant by UltraTech Cement.

Zambia: ZCCM-Investment Holding, an investment company owned by the Zambian government plans to start work on a US$680m cement plant later in 2018. ZCCM-Investment Holding chief executive officer Pius Kasolo said that drilling tests had been completed at the site, according to the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper. Construction of the plant is expected to take two to three years once the finance for the project is secured and feasibility studies are completed.

Cuba: The government has allocated over US$26m to upgrade three of the country’s cement plants. Pavel Cansino Ávila, deputy director of the Cement Business Group, told the Cuban News Agency that the Santiago de Cuba plant, also known as the José Mercerón plant, will be replaced with a new plant. The new unit is scheduled to be built by 2021 and it will have a production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr. The Siguaney plant and the Nuevitas plant will also be upgraded in 2018.

In 2017 the six local cement plants were unable to meet a government order of 1.57Mt of cement. Failures occurred due to lack of maintenance budget for the plants, issues due to a lack of packaging materials and logistics issues with deliveries.

Ethiopia: The Ethiopian Revenues & Customs Authority (ERCA) says that Chinese company Inchini Bedrock Cement owes it US$10m for alleged tax evasion. The cement producer has declared a loss for five of the seven years it has been in operation, according to the Addis Fortune newspaper. However, ERCA’s Large Taxpayers Office (LTO) has refuted these claims and, following an audit, says that Inchini Bedrock had failed to keep records of the raw materials and finished products in stock. The investigation was triggered following the discovery of documents relating to Inchini Bedrock whilst ECRA was looking at another case.

Inchini Bedrock Cement employs 265 employees, including 22 foreign nationals. However, it appears to have no manager or representative at present, except for the head of the expatriate department, according to sources quoted by Addis Fortune. The manager of the company left Ethiopia in late 2017 due to medical reasons. The plant had a cement production capacity of 0.3Mt/yr when it opened in 2012.

Burkina Faso: The Ministry of Mines and Quarries has signed a limestone mining deal with Sahelian Mining, a subsidiary of Diamond Cement Burkina. The deal covers mineral rights for the Sahel region, according to the Sidwaya newspaper. The agreement is intended to diversify the country’s mineral production. Diamond Cement Burkina oprates a cement grinding plant at Ouagadougou.

Ivory Coast: Jean-Claude Brou, the Minister of Industry and Mines, has announced the creation of a commission for the quality control of cement. The minister made the statement at the opening of a new mill at LafargeHolcim plant at Abidjan, according to the Agence Ivoirienne de Presse. Brou added the country’s demand for cement rose to 5Mt in 2017 from 2.5Mt in 2015.