Displaying items by tag: Licence

Malawi: The government of Malawi has defended its decision to introduce licences for cement importers saying there is no ban on importing the building material. Ministry of Industry and Trade spokesperson, Wiskes Mkombezi said that the government was issuing the licences to protect consumers in a monopolised local industry and to prevent smuggling. He added that the licences were to regulate and bring ‘sanity’ to the industry according to All Africa.

Local cement producers have complained about the import licences. Directors with Cement Products Limited and Lafarge have claimed that imports of cement are threatening local jobs in the country.

Vietnam: Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has agreed to add the Thaicement Ha Tien plant in Kien Giang to a portfolio of projects to be invested in the 2011-2020 period with a vision to 2030. The cement plant will have a production capacity of 4.5Mt/yr.

Nguyen has assigned the Ministry of Construction and People’s Committee of Kien Giang province to conduct a survey and exploration of limestone and clay deposits and present it to the National Mineral Reserves Councils for approval before granting an investment license. He also requested the relevant agencies to assess the financial capacity of the investor, which must be able to provide at least 20% of the project’s total investment under current regulations.

The Ministry of Construction has forecast that Vietnam's sales of cement and clinker will rise by 4 - 7% year-on-year to up to 77Mt in 2016 despite economic problems.

Spain: LafargeHolcim has decided to stop the expansion of its limestone quarry at its Sagunto cement plant. It decided this due to environmental issues with the local government and the lack of viable alternative for expansion in the area, known as Margas.

Lafarge originally signed at agreement with the government to expand the quarry in 2013. However the one licence requires renewal in 2017 and the local government has opposed the request.

Egypt: 37 companies have applied for licences to use coal at cement plants, according to the Industrial Development Authority (IDA). IDA Head Ismail Gaber said that the new licenses aim to increase investments in the cement industry to meet local consumption.

Minister of Industry Tarek Qabil announced in January 2016 that licences would be issued to establish 14 new coal-fired cement factories in nine governorates in Beni Suef, Minya, Qena, Sohag, Aswan, New Valley, Suez, Marsa Matruh and South Sinai. Together these plants will have a cement production capacity of 28Mt/yr. The deadline for receiving offers from companies is 10 May 2016.

Algeria: Lafarge has agreed to undertake a project inherited from an acquisition of an Egyptian firm in 2007 according to an Algerian minister of state.

Responding to a parliamentary question in mid-November 2011, the Algerian Industry and Investment Promotion Minister, Mohammed Benmeradi, said that Lafarge had agreed to undertake the project as a minority partner, owning 49%, in accordance with a foreign ownership law passed in 2009. Lafarge originally inherited the project as part of its acquisition of the global cement interests of Egypt's Orascom Construction Industries (OCI). OCI had secured licences for a new plant at Oum El Bouaghi, in the east of the country, shortly before the Lafarge takeover was announced.

Benmeradi said that the Oum El Bouaghi project would cost US$500m and would take 12-16 months to complete. He said that Algeria is currently self-sufficient in cement, producing 17Mt/yr, of which 5.5Mt/yr comes from privately owned plants. The government has a huge capital spending programme, which points to a steady increase in demand for cement. Most of the state-owned plants are in a poor state of repair.

Egypt: The Egyptian Industrial Development Authority (IDA) has announced that it will issue 12 cement licences in the second half of October 2011 to lure new firms into the Egyptian market and boost the sector's competitiveness.

"The authority aims to offer 18Mt/yr, 1.5Mt/yr per licence," said IDA head, Ismail El-Nagdy, who added that the licences will be awarded to new producers rather than existing ones in order to offer alternatives to consumers.

The popular uprising that ousted long-time President Hosni Mubarak from power in Egypt in February 2011 has forced the government to slash its short-term economic growth forecast and deepened a crisis in the once-booming real estate sector, a major cement consumer. The IDA says that new entrants into the cement market are needed to meet an expected longer-term rise in construction, especially as the Housing Ministry builds more housing units to meet the needs of Egypt's growing population.