Displaying items by tag: Project

Ghana: President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has laid the foundation stone for a new cement plant in the Tema Free Zones near Accra. The US$55m grinding plant, to be operated by CBI Ghana, will take a year to complete. It will produce and supply premium cement under the brand name Supacem. The company is expected to employ some 400 staff when it commences operations.

In remarks before the ground-breaking ceremony, the President said that his government would continue to provide regulatory support and ensure a business-friendly environment that would engender competitiveness to enable the cement industry to thrive. He said the growing competition in the sector was leading to healthy competition that was benefiting consumers.

With CBI only the latest entrant to the cement sector, President Akufo-Addo was optimistic that the company would diversify the sector, promote healthy competition and further improve product standards. He added that the government was considering the use of concrete for constructing durable roads, envisaging a huge demand for cement in the near future.

Vietnam: Thailand’s Siam City Cement Group wants to expand investment in the production and supply of construction materials and waste treatment in Vietnam’s southern Dong Nai Province, according to its local CEO Philippe Richart.

At a working session with the provincial People’s Committee in Dong Nai on 8 August 2017, Richart noted that the group has invested in the former Holcim cement plant in Nhon Trach district and will expand the plant in the future. He added that the company will also invest in an industrial dry mortar plant and a transit station for construction materials in Dong Nai. It is also focusing on waste treatment, he said, adding that the group is using the latest technologies in this field.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Quoc Hung cited a number of key projects being carried out in the locality such as major expressway projects and the Long Thanh airport, which will be launched in 2019. It is expected that cement demand will increase significantly in the local area due to these and smaller developments.

India: Ramco Cements is planning to make an investment of about US$172m in various projects, on the back of anticipated higher demand for cement in the near future. The company will invest in a range of projects, including expansion of its satellite grinding unit capacity. This move will enable the company to increase its presence in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal and will raise its total capacity to 7.1Mt/yr from 4.0Mt/yr at present. Expansions will be undertaken at its Visakhapatnam and Kolaghat plants, as well as at a new new grinding unit in Odisha. The projects will be commissioned within 18 months.

Philippines: DMCI Holdings has once again hinted that it is looking to enter the cement sector, with a potential US$340m investment to make use of low-grade coal and vast limestone reserves in Antique's Semirara Island. DMCI chair and president Isidro Consunji said that the island, where DMCI’s Semirara Mining and Power Corporation already mines coal, has around 1Bnt of limestone. He hinted at a capacity of around 5000t/day, saying, “You only need two 2Mt/yr, so the limestone can last for 500 years if we don't expand.” Consunji added that the cement plant would be capable of using lower grade coal that DMCI cannot use or sell for other purposes. 

The company previously made a similar announcement of intent in December 2016.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has said its production capacity is expected to reach 10Mt/yr by the end of the first half of 2017, with company COO Sapna Sood stating that this would be achieved by ‘debottlenecking’ existing facilities following a US$40m project that started in 2015.

“We have a project where we are looking at safety and debottlenecking that is near completion,” said Sood. “When we look at the country, the infrastructure that is coming in and the commitment that we are making to infrastructure, it is pretty exciting for the country and the industry.”Sood added that, while the company had no immediate plans to build a new cement plant, Holcim Philippines planned to offer various solutions to help in the implementation of various infrastructure projects.

The total demand for cement in the Philippines reached 26.0Mt in 2016, up from 24.4Mt in 2015, although the final quarter of 2016 and first quarter of 2017 have been subdued.

Holcim Philippines operates four cement plants in La Union, Bulacan, Misamis Oriental and Davao.

US: China's Sinoma TCDRI and Amec Foster Wheeler are forming a joint venture to sell turnkey installations for the cement industry in the US. The two engineering companies revealed their relationship in the sector at the 2017 IEEE-PCA Cement Conference taking place in Calgary, Canada. The companies are negotiating their first US tenders and hope to make an announcement later in 2017. Sinoma is one of the largest suppliers of equipment for cement plants in the world but it has yet to build a plant in the United States.

South Africa: PPC’s sales volumes have risen by 4% in South Africa and by 9% in Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Botswana collectively in the first nine months of 2016. The cement producer reported in a trading statement that its sales volumes in South Africa had risen overall but that its prices had fallen. It is planning price increases in selected regions in February 2017 in selected regions.

In Zimbabwe, the company saw a boost in cement sales following the commissioning of a mill in Msasa, Harare although it has faced liquidity challenges that made importing raw materials difficult. In Rwanda it has continued to ramp-up production and in Botswana sales have risen in the last quarter of 2016 due to sales promotions.

The cement producer also reported that the cement plant it is building in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was 95% complete in January 2017. Hot commissioning is due to start at the site in February 2017 and operational cement production anticipated to start in the second quarter of 2017. Operational cement production is also expected to start in the second quarter of 2017 at its project in Ethiopia. Finally, the company’s Slurry SK9 new kiln line in South Africa was reported as being 54% complete. Commissioning and ramp-up for the site is scheduled for the first half of 2018.

South Africa: PPC has reported update on projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ethiopia. In the DRC it said that engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract work from Sinoma is complete and overall the cement plant it is building is 90% complete. Power infrastructure is being built at present and hot commissioning at the site will start once this is in place. Sales of cement are scheduled to start in February 2017.

In Ethiopia the cement producer has planned to commission its 1.4Mt/yr Habesha plant in the second quarter of 2017. Plant construction is reported as ‘progressing well’ with overall project progress above 80%, civil construction 94% complete, mechanical erection at 66% and 95% of equipment manufactured and delivered to site. The project has a budget of US$180m.

Nepal: Arghakhanchi Cement has obtained a consortium loan pledge to finance the expansion of its cement plant from 1200t/day (0.4Mt/yr) to 3000t/day (1.0Mt/yr). The company expects to spend US$38.6m, including US$27m in consortium financing led by Nabil Bank. Other banks involved include Nepal Bank, NIC Asia Bank, Global IME Bank, Prime Bank and Century Bank.

The company's promoters, the Siddhartha Group, Murarka Organisation, Kedia Organisation and India's Uma Cement International, will invest US$11.6m in the expansion project.

When it is completed by the close of 2017 Arghakhanchi Cement will be the largest cement factory in Nepal. "If we don't increase our capacity and achieve economy of scale, we will vanish once big plants with foreign investment start producing cement," said Rajesh Agrawal, Managing Director.

Nigeria’s Dangote Cement, China’s Hongshi Cement and Huaxin Cement and India’s Reliance Cement have all received approval to start operations in Nepal. Their combined foreign direct investment amounts to US$1.45bn and their proposed output stands at 22,000t/day (7Mt/yr).

Kenya: The East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) is waiting for cabinet approval to sell US$98.8m worth of land as part of efforts to return to profitability.

The Nairobi bourse listed firm, through the Ministry of Trade, has prepared a brief for Cabinet approval to sell part of 13,000 acres of land it owns in Athi River.

Proceeds from the sale will be used to retire a US$37.5m debt and partly fund a revamp of its ageing plant, which requires nearly US$400m of investment to be brought to a level where the EAPCC can compete well with nimble rivals like Savanna Cement.