Displaying items by tag: GCW384

Egypt: South Valley Cement says it is in a dispute with China’s Sinoma CDI over an upgrade to its Beni Suef plant. The cement producer alleges that Sinoma has not met its contractual obligations on the project to build new mills. South Valley Cement says that Sinoma has liquidated letters of guarantee worth nearly US$2m, left the construction site and started arbitration proceedings. South Valley Cement is now considering its legal options. The status of the upgrade project remains unknown.

China: Anhui Conch’s Wuhu Conch subsidiary has installed bag filters on its Line 3 production line. Dust emissions are stable at 7 – 8mg/m³. The cement producer said that this was in full compliance with national emissions standards.

Jordan: Residents have protested outside a court against the Jordan Cement Company on environmental grounds. The protestors allege that the cement producer’s plants have caused ‘severe’ pollution that has negatively effected the health of those living nearby, according to the Jordan Times newspaper. In a statement the demonstrators claimed to represent thousands of local stakeholders and plaintiffs in a long running campaign against the subsidiary of Switzerland’s LafargeHolcim.

Bahrain: France’s Fives Group has launched a joint educational initiative with the ‘Tamkeen’ Labour Fund and Bahrain Polytechnic. The project is aimed at increasing the number of Bahraini workforce in the industrial sector, by reinforcing the employability of Bahrainis and by bridging existing skill gaps, in-line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 requirements. Fives plans to contribute in a non-profit initiative as part of its Corporate Citizenship Program. It will provide internship opportunities within the worldwide network of its companies and will partner with Bahrain Polytechnic.

“Fives has a longstanding commitment to Bahrain where we have been established since 2003. As a corporate citizen, we are proud to contribute to the communities in which we operate. This initiative is one of the ways in which the group supports the sustainability of the industry in Bahrain. The partnership between public and private entities that we have created with this initiative is really a model for the future,” said Frédéric Sanchez, Fives’ chairman of the executive board.

The training programs will be implemented and delivered by Bahrain Polytechnic, which was established by Bahraini Government to deliver applied learning, technical education, skills-based and occupational trainings.

India: Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, has laid the foundation stone for Ramco Cements’ new 3.15Mt/yr integrated plant at Kalavatala, Kolimigundla Mandal in Kurnool District. The project has an investment of nearly US$210m. The plant will include a waste heat recovery (WHR) unit and a captive power plant. A 25km railway line from Samjamala has also been proposed to support the plant. Once the required statuary clearances are obtained the plant is expected to take 15 months to build.

Other new projects the cement producer has scheduled include an upgrade at its Jayanthipuram plant in Krishna District to 4.6Mt/yr from 3.1Mt/yr with a 27MW WHR unit. The project has a cost of just over US$100m and it is expected to be commissioned in March 2020. The company is also upgrading the grinding capacity of its Vizag plant to 2Mt/yr from 0.9Mt/yr. This project has an investment of around US$25m and is also expected to be commissioned in March 2020. Once these three projects are completed Ramco Cements says that it will become the largest producer in Andhra Pradesh with a production capacity of nearly 10Mt/yr.

In the east of the country Ramco Cements us building a new 0.9Mt/yr grinding plant in Odisha with a railway terminal for around US$70. This is expected to be commissioned by September 2019. In West Bengal the company is upgrading the grinding capacity at its Kolaghat plant in East Midnapore district to 2Mt/yr from 0.9Mt/yr for around US$60m. This project also includes a railway terminal and it is scheduled for commissioning in April 2019. Altogether the company plans to reach a cement production capacity of 20Mt/yr by 2020 across the country.

India: UltraTech Cement has renamed its Binani Cement subsidiary UltraTech Nathdwara Cement. The leading Indian cement producer finally acquired Binani Cement in late November 2018 when the Supreme Court supported the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT) approval of its bid for Binani Cement following a legal fight with a consortium led by Dalmia Bharat group.

Binani Cement’s production assets include a 4.85Mt/yr integrated plant at Nathdwara and a 1.4Mt/yr grinding plant at Neem ka Thana, both in Rajasthan. The company also operates plants in China and the UAE. UltraTech Cement’s acquisition will increase its production capacity in the north of the country to around 24Mt/yr, increase its access to limestone reserves and offer it synergies in logistics and procurement.

India: JSW Cement is planning to target the north and north-east of the country after a proposed initial public offering (IPO) in 2020. The company is looking for acquisitions in the region to meet its production capacity target of 20Mt/yr by 2020, according to a company executive quoted by the Economic Times newspaper. The cement producer has purchased two limestone mines via auction at Nagaur in Rajasthan and one in Gujarat. It is also considering building new cement plants near the mines. The company has a production capacity is 12.8Mt/yr at present.

Uzbekistan: Local company Jo'ydam Tamir Qurilish and three Chinese partners have started building a 1.2Mt/yr cement plant at Bulakbasinsky in the Andijan district. Shangfeng, Tunli and Beijing Triumph International Engineering are the Chinese companies in the project dubbed ‘Shangfeng-Bridge of Friendship.’ The total cost of the project is around US$420m and the first stage of construction is planned for completion by 2020. A later expansion at a cost of US$215m is planned from 2020 to 2023.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Provision data from the Banque Centrale du Congo (BCC) shows that local cement production grew by 24% year-on-year to 531,000t for the first half of 2018 from 428,000t in the same period in 2017. Consumption grew by 43% to 539,000t from 378,000t. The country currently has a cement import ban in place and no exports have been recorded by the BCC since mid-2015.

Egypt: Germany’s Gebr. Pfeiffer is expanding its Gebr. Pfeiffer Egypt subsidiary. The local company was founded in 2015 after a sustained presence in the country. The engineering company has now decided to enlarge its subsidiary to meet current and anticipated customer demand. It intends to turn Gebr. Pfeiffer Egypt into a regional hub for Gebr. Pfeiffer customers from across the Middle East and African (MEA) area.

The local company is led by managing director Ahmed Essam. The services offered by the office team will now include sales, production and delivery, project management, supervision and aftersales and additional customer services.