Displaying items by tag: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: A leaked letter from investment body the Agency for Development has revealed Chinese state pressure towards a tender for building a new cement grinding plant in the Hambantota investment zone. In the letter, reported upon by the News First television network, the head of the agency states that the Chinese Embassy asked that a Chinese investor, Sinoma Nanjing, be given priority for the project otherwise it would ‘lose confidence’ in the scheme. He added that the Chinese investors would pull out if other investors were also allowed to produce cement in the zone. The letter also reveals that the agency has proposed that Sinoma Nanjing form a joint venture with Ceylon Steel Corporation.

Sri Lanka: Nandana Ekanayake has been appointed as the chief executive officer of Siam City Cement Lanka. Previously Ekanayake was the Finance Director at Holcim Vietnam and was the Vice President of Holcim Lanka, according to the Daily News newspaper. Thailand’s Siam City Cement purchased Holcim Lanka in mid-2016.

Sri Lanka: India’s Dalmia Cement Bharat has partnered with local import firm Oliver Impex to launch the Vijaya Cement brand. The SLS 107 certified product has a strength class of 42.5 N, according to the Daily News newspaper. AHM Fowzie, the State Minister of National Integration and Reconciliation, was the chief guest at the launch event.

Sri Lanka: Insee Cement has signed research and development partnership deal’s with the Universities of Peradeniya, Moratuwa and Ruhuna. The agreements are intended to enhance the local construction industry through education, innovation and knowledge sharing, according to the Sunday Observer newspaper. The agreement was signed by Janaka Weerakoon of Siam City Cement and Upul Dissanayake of the University of Peradeniya, Ananda Jayawardena of the University of Moratuwa and SGJN Senanayake of the University of Ruhuna. Insee Cement was previously known as Holcim Lanka before it was purchased by Thailand’s Siam Cement in 2016.

Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement has started testing a new mill at its cement grinding plant in Trincomalee. It held a ‘soft’ opening ceremony to mark the event on 8 December 2016. The new mill is the company’s fourth. It will start commercial operation in February 2017, according to Lanka Business. Once operational it will add 1Mt/yr to the company’s production total capacity taking it to 2.8Mt/yr.

The ceremony was inaugurated by Tadashi Matsunami, Director & Senior Managing Executive Officer of Ube Industries Limited, Japan, the technology services partner of Tokyo Cement. Harsha Cabral PC, chairman and SR Gnanam, managing director of Tokyo Cement also presided at the event.

An additional US$50m expansion drive at the site will see the commissioning of an 8MW captive biomass power unit for the plant. Tokyo Cement will also develop the shipping facilities at the site to accommodate larger vessels and it plans to build cement storage silos.

Sri Lanka: Holcim Lanka has been rebranded as Insee Cement following its acquisition by Thailand’s Siam City Cement. The company will continue to use its Sanstha and Mahaweli Marine brands of cement but it will also introduce Insee Pro, Insee Pro Plus and Insee Extra brands, according to the Daily Financial Times newspaper.

Sri Lanka: BASF has opened its first production plant for admixtures at Sapugaskande near Colombo. The plant will produce standard and custom-made performance-based construction chemicals under the Master Builders Solutions brand. These include concrete admixtures product ranges such as MasterGlenium, MasterPolyheed, MasterRheobuild and MasterPozzolith. The site is supported by an office, warehouse and testing laboratory.

“Asia Pacific is one of the fastest growing markets globally and South Asia is a strategic growth engine of this market. With the new admixture plant in Colombo, we will now be able to rapidly supply our customers with admixtures for all cement and aggregate types, whether their construction projects are located in the capital or in remote areas,” said Himanshu Kapadia, Vice President, Market Management, Construction Chemicals Asia Pacific, BASF, at the inauguration of the new plant on 19 August 2016.

Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement Group entered into a collaboration agreement with Ube Industries from 1 August 2016 for technical support services and to import raw materials from Japan, to manufacture ‘high quality’ cement.

Sri Lanka: LafargeHolcim has signed an agreement with Siam City Cement to sell Holcim Lanka for US$400m. Holcim Lanka operates one integrated plant and one grinding plant in the country. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016.

The proceeds from the sale of Holcim Lanka will be used by Lafarge Holcim to further reduce debt. The Sri Lanka sale follows the divestment of Lafarge India to Nirma that was announced in mid-July 2016. The group says it has now secured three-quarters of its targets to reduce its debt by Euro3.2bn in 2016.

Sri Lanka: The Industry and Commerce Ministry has queried the sale of Holcim Lanka, LafargeHolcim’s business on the island. Industry and Commerce Ministry Secretary TMKB Tennakoon contacted Holcim Lanka in March 2016 to point out that the government has not benefitted from deals with the cement producer to allow it to build a quarry and that it can control attempts to sell some of its assets, according to the Daily News newspaper.

Tennakoon has raised the issue that the Sri Lankan government is not making profit out of a lease agreement, started in 1993, which gave Holcim Lanka mineral rights to a quarry in Aruwakkalu, Puttalam. In addition the cement producer was granted a 12-year tax holiday on funds borrowed from within Sri Lanka, the ministry claims. The ministry has informed Holcim Lanka that it is in the process of evaluating the terms and conditions of the agreement ‘in order to gain more benefits to the industry and the country’ and warns Holcim Lanka that in the terms of Section 4(b) of the agreement, Holcim Lanka cannot transfer or sub-let the premises without the consent of the government-owned Cement Corporation.

LafargeHolcim announced that it was leaving the cement business in Sri Lanka in early June 2016. The Industry and Commerce Ministry was expressed its interest in buying the local company.