15 December 2015
India: Petron Engineering Construction has received a Letter of Intent from Ramco Cements for civil and mechanical works to upgrade line 1 at the cement plant and captive power plant at Jayanthipuram, Andhra Pradesh for US$3.36m.
Huaxin Cement to build cement plant in Aktobe 15 December 2015
Kazakhstan: The Governor of Aktobe, Berdybek Saparbayev, and Chairman of the Board of Huaxin Cement, Xu Yongmo, have signed an agreement on an investment project for the construction of a cement plant in Kargaly, Aktobe.
Huaxin Cement has decided to invest US$150m in the construction of the 1Mt/yr plant, which will produce different cement types, including oil-well cement. The construction of the plant is scheduled to start in the middle of 2016. The project does not require any investment from the state budget. In addition, it will reduce the need to import cement from Russia.
NGOs demand 60% local employment in cement plants 15 December 2015
India: The Joint Action Committee of the Meghalaya People's United Front (MPUF) and Jaintia National Union (JNU) have demanded that cement plants in East Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya should ensure that 60% of their work force comprise locals.
"We have demanded that the cement plants should ensure that 60% of jobs be guaranteed to local people. This is based on the agreement signed by them with all concerned," said MPUF's President D Wanmi Laloo. He alleged that the agreements have not been adhered to because not even 20% of those employed are locals, despite the increase in unemployment in the state. Laloo said that the non-governmental organisations (NGO) have already served a one-month deadline for eight cement companies to meet the demand.
Laloo also said that the NGOs would soon conduct an inspection of all the cement plants and seek proper information as to how many local people are employed in different job roles. Demanding proper advertisements to be issued by the companies regarding job vacancies, Laloo said that preference should be given to locals to fill posts, which include technical, electrical, mechanical and labour positions. Laloo has also demanded that companies source their raw materials from local sources and that the cement companies lower the price of their finished products by 30% in the state. "As of now, the price of cement that is being sold here and supplied to other states like Assam and West Bengal, is the same," said Laloo. "This is not acceptable considering the fact that they are depending on the state for raw materials."
Laloo opined that the cement companies are responsible for degradation of the environment and used the pollution of the Lukha River as an example. He said that the NGOs would be compelled to demand the state government shut down the cement plants if they prove to be of no benefit to the locals. "The frequent change of colour of the Lukha River has led us to strongly suspect that this is due to the pollutants released from the cement plants," said Laloo. "Though reports have pointed out coal mining as the reason, the question that arises is why this change in colour has occurred again despite the ban on coal mining for the past year."
China: The Vice minister of Industry and Information Technology, Xin Guobin, recently led a delegation to investigate excessive cement capacity in north-east China. Xin urged local governments, industry associations and key enterprises to work together, further reduce excessive capacity and try to reverse losses in the cement industry in the region.
Companies including Yatai Cement, Liaoning Daying Cement Group, Inner Mongolia Mengxi Cement Co., Ltd, Sunnsy Cement and China Tianrui Group Cement Company Ltd have all set up cement clinker production lines in north-east China.