Displaying items by tag: land

Kenya: Savannah Cement’s creditors voted in favour of administrator Peter Kahi’s debt reduction plan for the company on 16 April 2024. Kahi’s plan involves leasing out the site of the company’s Kitui plant, while also seeking a buyer for it.

Business Daily has reported that the Office of the Attorney General has declared Kahi's reappointment as administrator of Savannah Cement on 24 January 2024 as invalid.

India: Tamil Nadu Cements plans to expand its limestone mining operations at the Pudupalayam quarry in Tamil Nadu. The New Indian Express newspaper has reported that local residents have protested against the planned expansion. Some local landowners claim that Tamil Nadu Cements did not pay them for the 121 hectares of land it originally acquired in Pudupalayam.

Malaysia: Hume Cement Industries has accepted an offer for a parcel of land it owns in Prai Industrial Estate, Pulau Pinang. Reuters has reported the value of the deal as US$8.57m, on which Hume Cement Industries expects to make a net gain of US$6.89m.

India: Village leaders from Maharashtra’s Chandrapur District began a hunger strike on 17 November 2023 with the stated aim of ensuring that UltraTech Cement continues to deliver on its commitments to its host communities. Specifically, the demonstration sought to make the producer distribute funding for roadbuilding projects across 12 villages surrounding its 3.6Mt/yr Awarpur cement plant. The Hitavada newspaper has reported that UltraTech Cement agreed to the strikers’ demands on 19 November 2023. In addition to the funding, the company will give preferential treatment to industrial training institute (ITI) and polytechnic students lodging at the selected villages when allocating apprenticeships and training places and make some of its land available for community uses.

Mexico: The government says that if US-based Vulcan Materials continues to reject offers for land in Quintana Roo on which its Calica-Sac-Tun quarry is situated, then it will designate the land Protected Natural Area status. Reuters has reported that the government has previously offered US$328 – 383m for the property. Vulcan Materials has mounted on-going legal challenges worth US$1.9bn against the Mexican government over the previous closure of its operations.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) plans to sell land in Machakos County close to its Athi River plant, KBC News has reported. During the sale, offers submitted by people currently residing on the land will have priority. Demolition of illegal homes on the land is currently underway.

Colombia: A court has ordered Grupo Argos to hand over 490 hectares of land in Sucre. The El Colombiano newspaper has reported that the land’s original owners sold their land to Grupo Argos between 2005 and 2007, amid civil conflict. The company argued that it had made the purchase in good faith, however the court rejected this, given that paramilitary violence in the area was a matter of public knowledge. Grupo Argos subsidiary Tekia subsequently planted teak trees on the land as part of the group’s carbon offsetting efforts. The Colombian Land Restitution Unit will now use the land to generate funding for repatriation programmes for people who fled the war.

Kenya: East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) has won a legal dispute for the right to evict squatters from 1740 hectares of limestone-bearing land in Machakos County. Nation News has reported that the court struck out the case after claimants failed to produce requested documents. It also ordered the claimants to pay EAPCC’s legal costs.

India: UltraTech Cement has bought a 29.8 hectare parcel of land in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram District from The India Cements. The Times of India newspaper has reported the value of the sale as US$8.44m. The India Cements’ vice chair and managing director Narayanaswami Srinivasan said that the company is looking for ways to monetise its assets amid on-going liquidity issues.

The India Cements’ sales of cement and clinker fell by 4.3% quarter-on-quarter to 2.66Mt in the three months to 30 June 2023 from 2.78Mt in the three months to 31 April 2023. It noted high fossil fuel prices and local overcapacity in the South Indian cement sector.

US: Heidelberg Materials North America has reached an agreement with the administration of Santa Clara County to decommission its quarry in the county, near Cupertino. Silicon Valley News has reported that the quarry historically supplied limestone for cement production at Permanente cement plant, which came offline in April 2020. The county administration says that the deal signals that it has achieved its aim to ensure final closure of the Permanente plant.

Heidelberg Materials North America spokesperson Jeff Sieg said that the company is ‘pleased to formalise our agreement not to restart the kiln at our Permanente cement plant.’ He continued "We remain focused on working collaboratively with the community and other stakeholders on the development of a long-term strategy for the property, so that it can continue to provide value in the future.”