Displaying items by tag: Infrastructure

Nepal: Huaxin Cement has signed a project investment agreement with the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) to build a US$140m plant. Xu Gang, vice-president of Huaxin Cement signed the deal with Maha Prasad Adhikari, the chief executive (CEO) of IBN, during a visit by Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to Beijing, according to the Kathmandu Post. The unit will have a production capacity of 3000t/day. The local subsidiary, Huaxin Cement Narayani, has already acquired a limestone mine at Panikharkha in Dhading. The IBN will also support the project by assisting the government to build a transmission line to supply 18MW of electricity to the unit.

KP Sharma Oli also signed an agreement with the Chinese government to build a cross-border railway between Kathmandu and Kerung in Tibet.

India: ACC forecasts that demand for cement will grow by up to 7% in 2018. However, intense competition and insufficient consumption will lead to excess capacity it added, according to the Press Trust of India. Demand is expected to benefit from government-based infrastructure projects, rural development and affordable housing schemes.

Around 66% of ACC’s cement demand came from the housing sector, followed by infrastructure with 18% and 16% from the commercial sector. The country has a total cement production capacity of 465Mt/yr but it is only producing 305Mt/yr, giving it an utilisation rate of 66%. Cement plants in the south of the country are pulling the rate down compared to northern, central and eastern regions. Excess capacity is expected to continue until 2019, with the increased outlays on housing, infrastructure development and agricultural sector initiatives.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has called on the US Congress to reauthorise Federal legislation to build, maintain and improve the country’s water infrastructure. The US House of Representatives is considering two-year reauthorisation of the Water Resources Development Act of 2018, while the US Senate is considering companion legislation, America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018.

“America deserves safe, strong and resilient water infrastructure – our economy depends on it,” said PCA President and chief executive office (CEO) Michael Ireland. “Water infrastructure built with concrete is long-lived, has a low life-cycle cost and is resilient to man-made and natural disasters. We need this legislation to ensure our drinking water is safe, our waterways are navigable and secure and that we have water infrastructure capable of serving generations to come.”

The PCA supports reauthorisation of water infrastructure legislation to include: increased investment in waterway and flood control infrastructure; increased funding for water infrastructure construction programs; and to promote resilient construction techniques that use materials such as concrete.

Algeria: Lafarge Algeria says it plans to focus on exports and roads in 2018. Serge Dubois, director of public relations at the company, said that it intends to export 5Mt or 30% of the market by 2020, according to the El Watan newspaper. The cement producer has already conducted seven export operations since Decemebr 2017 to West Africa. The other priority is to encourage the use of cement in local infrastructure, incuding road expansion plans.

Egypt: Cemex is supplying around 0.76Mt of cement to build tunnels underneath the Suez Canal. It is also providing over 0.5Mm³ of concrete for the projects that will link the mainland to the Sinai Peninsula and the development of a commercial seaport. The work is being managed by a joint venture with Orascom Construction and Saudi Arabia’s Osman Ahmed Osman. The two tunnels will extend from the outskirts of Port-Said to the Sinai Peninsula, passing under the Suez Canal. The construction of the two 4km tunnels required the installation of three ready-mix batch plants on site to fulfil the project’s concrete demands.

Uganda: Local cement producers are facing challenges meeting the specification required for cement being used by the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project. Project coordinator Kasingye Kyamugambi said at a procurement conference in Kampala that the project was facing issues with cement, reinforcement steel and sand, according to the Daily Monitor newspaper. Hima Cement is producing one specific product for the project following discussions with the SGR. However, the railway needs eight different types of cement.

Kyamugambi has called for legal cover for the infrastructure project to bypass local product sourcing laws. He has asked that new legislation be introduced to cover projects with a lifecycle of over a century.

The SGR is being built by China’s China Harbour Engineering Company. The project is intended to link up to Kenya’s railway project at Tororo with proposed links to Rwanda and South Sudan. The Democratic Republic of Congo has also expressed interested in the line.

Croatia/Montenegro: Cemex Crotia says it is supplying cement for a local construction boom in Montenegro. It is supplying building materials for several infrastructure projects, including three mixed-use resorts and a motorway. It has already supplied over 0.28Mt of cement for the Smokovac-Mateševo section of the Bar-Boljare motorway. It has also supplied over 0.2Mt/yr of cement for resort projects at Portonovi, Porto Montenegro, and Luštica Bay on the Adriatic coast.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) predicts growth of 2.8% in cement consumption in 2018 and 2019 in its Spring Forecast. Growth is then expected to climb to 4% in 2020 as impacts from potential federal infrastructure spending are likely to take effect. The analysis estimates cement consumption at 99.3Mt in 2018, 102.1Mt in 2019 and 106Mt in 2020.

Ed Sullivan, PCA senior vice president and chief economist, has attributed the forecast growth to a variety of positive economic factors including a strong economy, job market and anticipated increase in infrastructure spending. He said that in combination these factors, “suggest a modest acceleration in real GDP, construction markets and cement consumptions.”

However, the PCA projects that ‘robust’ infrastructure spending isn’t likely to occur until the fourth quarter of 2019, given the key steps that must occur, including passage of an infrastructure bill, federal and state paperwork, bid letting and review and finally contract awards leading to construction.

Philippines: Germany’s ThyssenKrupp hopes to secure orders of around US$50 – 100m in 2017 due to the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure development programme. It raised US$30m in the country in 2017, according to the BusinessWorld newspaper. The equipment manufacturer wants to benefit from the construction of new cement and power plants. Typically, it provides the engineering and material handling aspect of a project, while a local partner handles the construction.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has supported an infrastructure study by the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF). It liked how the study highlighted the importance of life cycle cost analysis and competition in paving. “If federal and state decision makers took this report as a playbook, America would see tremendous taxpayer cost savings and stronger infrastructure built to last long into the future,” said PCA President and chief executive officer (CEO) Michael Ireland.