Displaying items by tag: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: Lafarge Mahaweli Cement is on schedule with its Savi Piyasa housing programme and has now partnered with nine leading brands in the construction sector and two commercial banks to add value to its technical assistance scheme for individual homebuilders.

Under its 'Building Better Cities' theme, Lafarge has helped many families around the world to have better, affordable housing facilities and hopes to provide decent housing to two million people worldwide by 2020.

In Sri Lanka, Lafarge has already provided architectural assistance to 220 families in the Western and Northern Province. With the intention of providing even better options for its Savi Piyasa clients, Lafarge has now entered into partnerships with several leading brands, enabling it to receive special discounts on a large variety of building materials such as steel, paints, glass, PVC pipes, etc. Moreover, Lafarge has tied up with commercial banks and microfinance institutions to provide their customers with easy access to loan facilities.

"We started this programme a year ago and we have been getting a lot of positive feedback. A package integrating architectural assistance, special discounts and financial facility has not been offered in Sri Lanka before, so I am confident that the individual homebuilders in the country will find interest in this turnkey solution," said Lafarge Mahaweli Cement managing director Anurag Kak.

Sri Lanka: Holcim Lanka has launched Ready Flow Plus, a blended ordinary Portland cement product. The cement producer says it offers high performance with strength, consistency and workability.

"In developing Ready Flow Plus, Holcim (Lanka) has gone one step further in shifting, from ordinary Portland cement that requires inputs such as clinker, to blended cement which scores high on sustainability and leaves a smaller environmental foot print," said Sanka Senaviratne, manager of industrial sales at Holcim (Lanka). The product is being targeted for the construction of high-rise buildings. Ready Flow Plus cement is already sold in other Asian countries.

Sri Lanka: Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) plans to invest US$50m on 1Mt/yr of additional production capacity to meet local demand.

The extra capacity will be via a new plant under a new subsidiary, Tokyo Eastern Cement. The project is expected to be implemented in the next two years. It will receive a five-year tax holiday and a tax rate of 12%. The project will be funded through internal funds and loans.

In its 2014 financial year, Tokyo Cement's revenue grew by 6% year-on-year, while its operating profit rose by 65%. Its current market share in Sri Lanka is 35%.

Sri Lanka/Japan: Japanese cement producers in Sri Lanka Tokyo Cement Lanka and Fuji Cement Lanka Limited have announced that they have merged under the terms of Section 242 (1) of the Companies Act No 7 of 2007. The merger to create Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) plc was completed on 13 March 2015.

Sri Lanka: Fuji Cement, one of the subsidiaries of Tokyo Cement, which functions as independent company, will go for a strategic merger as a single entity with effect from February 2015. Harsha Cabraal has become the new chairman of the company.

After the merger, the new entity will be named Tokyo Cement Company Lanka Plc. For the merger the companies will cancel the status capital and asset and liability of Fuji Cement and are now waiting for the Company Registrar's approval to go ahead with the merger.

Tokyo Cement (Lanka) plc is a Sri Lanka-based company engaged in the manufacturing and selling of cement and ready mixed concrete to the local market. Its product lines include Nippon Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Tokyo Super Ordinary Portland Cement, Tokyo Super Portland Pozzolana Cement and Tokyo Super Masonry Cement.

As of 31 March 2012, Tokyo Cement had four subsidiaries, namely Tokyo Super Cement Company Lanka (Pvt) Limited, Fuji Cement Company (Lanka) Limited, which were both engaged in manufacturing and selling cement; Tokyo Cement Power (Lanka) Limited, which was still in gestation stage and Tokyo Cement Colombo Terminal (Pvt) Limited, which was active in the import and distribution of cement.

Sri Lanka: W Christopher Fernando has been appointed as an executive director to the board of Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) with effect from 30 October 2014.

Fernando was appointed as Group General Manager of the company in 1991. He is also a director of Fuji Cement Company (Lanka), Tokyo Super Cement Company (Lanka), Tokyo Cement Colombo Terminal, Tokyo Cement Power (Lanka) and Tokyo Eastern Cement Company. He holds degrees in economics, is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Management Accountants (FCMA), Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA) and an attorney-at-law.

India: Maha Cement has announced that it plans to enter the Sri Lanka cement market with its joint venture company, My Home Industries Limited (MHIL), which is part-owned by Ireland's CRH. MHIL has 8.40Mt/yr of cement production capacity and plans to increase its capacity to 10Mt/yr by 2015. It plans to set up a cement plant in the east coast of Tamil Nadu, India, for import to nearby Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka: Holcim Lanka is spending US$22m towards upgrading its cement grinding plant in Ruhunu, Galle. The investment will increase the plant's cement grinding capacity from 0.6Mt/yr to 1Mt/yr. The upgrade will also increase capacity on a Geocycle waste shredding line, building up the clinker warehouse and process efficiency improvement to a sludge drying facility.

"We also intend to make considerable improvements to our distribution by enhancing our logistics," said Holcim Group CEO Bernard Fontana during his first visit to Sri Lanka. Holcim will be concentrating on increasing their production from both their facilities in Puttalam and Ruhunu in the future.

"In our 18 years of existence in Sri Lanka, we have tripled our cement manufacturing capacity to reach 2.3Mt/yr," said Philippe Richart, CEO, Holcim Lanka. Holcim Lanka sold approximately 1.5Mt of cement in 2013 and generated annual revenues of US$154m in 2013.

Sri Lanka: Nearly 500 contract workers at two Holcim Lanka cement plants in the towns of Puttalam and Galle in Sri Lanka have been on strike since 19 May 2014 demanding job permanency, better wages and improved working conditions. The striking workers and their families are occupying the cement plant premises. The Inter Company Employees Union (ICEU) called the strike.

The protesters at the Puttalam plant have blocked the main gate, halting the transport of cement. The company and contractors are trying to break the picket with the help of Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa. The government is determined to end the strike and has deployed police and the riot squad. The police are threatening to arrest union leaders and activists.

On 1 June 2014 the striking contract workers and their families at the Puttalam and Galle plants were attacked by hired thugs with swords and clubs, allegedly organised by the local ruling party politicians. At the Puttalam plant nine people, including an eight year old girl, were injured and sent to hospital. Four are still hospitalised. Protestors asked for police protection, who were present during the attack, but their appeals were allegedly refused. At the Galle plant one protester was injured.

The mother of the eight year old girl who was injured said that her daughter had been thrown to the ground by the thugs. "I'm afraid for my husband, who has been working for eight years as a contract worker. That's why we joined the protest."

Holcim established its Sri Lankan operations after the privatisation of the state-owned Puttalam Cement Corporation in 1996 under former president Chandrika Kumaratunga. After Holcim took over, the workforce was cut from 1500 to less than 900, with only 370 permanent workers. Some of the contract workers have worked for the company for more than 20 years. Keeping workers on contract basis is a means employed to deny the rights they would have as permanent employees and to subject them to harsher working conditions.

Workers in the production and transport sections are employed on a 12 hour shift system. Their basic monthly wage is less than US$115. In the loading section, six workers have to load 4500 cement bags during a 12 hour shift with the assistance of a conveyor belt. The workers on 'general duties' work nine hour shifts and are on daily wages of US$16.02.

Holcim Lanka dominates has more than 40% of the local market. In the recent period, it has increased the price of a 50kg bag of cement several times and profits have soared, even after paying the government's increased taxes.

Sri Lanka: Work on a Thatta Cement project in Sri Lanka has ended because the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has not yet executed the Land Lease Agreement (LLA). Basic engineering for the cement grinding, storing and bagging plant has been completed but the project has been suspended pending legal issues.

Thatta Cement secretary Taha Hamdani has complained to capital market regulators about the SLPA also signing an agreement with another company whose operational area lies close to its cement project. It appears to obstruct setting up of the cement project within the layout originally planned by the SLPA. The company officials say further progress on the project would recommence 'as soon as LLA is signed with SLPA'.