Semen Cibinong to start $337.5m expansion project
Semen Cibinong to start $337.5m expansion project
JAKARTA (JP): PT Semen Cibinong, a publicly listed cement
producer, awarded contracts to two South Korean companies and a
U.S. firm here Tuesday for the establishment of a new production
unit with a capacity of 2.6 million tons at US$337.5 million.
Hanjung Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd. of South
Korea was appointed as the construction contractor, while Fuller
International Ltd. of the United States and Ssangyong Corporation
of South Korea will supply equipment.
Semen Cibinong's president, Hashim S. Djojohadikusumo, told
reporters after signing the contracts that the construction of
the unit, which will be adjacent to Semen Cibinong's existing
plant in Bogor, West Java, is slated to be completed in November
1997 and to commence commercial production by early 1998.
The Bogor plant, with a production capacity of three million
tons a year, will be capable of producing 5.6 million tons of
cement in 1998 after the operation of the new unit.
Semen Cibinong produces cement with three brand names -- Semen
Kujang for the cement produced in Bogor, Semen Nusantara for that
from Cilacap, Central Java, and Semen Dwima Agung for that to be
produced in Tuban, East Java.
Hashim said that the company is now constructing a new
production unit of its Cilacap plant, which will increase its
annual production capacity from 1.5 million tons at present to
4.1 million tons in 1997.
"The expansion of the Bogor and the Cilacap plants will bring
Semen Cibinong's total annual production capacity to 9.7 million
tons in 1998," he said.
According to a statistical report, the country's cement
production in 1994 reached 21.9 million tons, which is estimated
to increase to 24.7 million tons in 1995 and to 27.2 million tons
in 1996.
Hashim said Tuesday that demand and supply for cement remain
tight, particularly in Java.
"Some 1.2 million tons of cement and clinker were imported by
the group in 1994 to meet the country's shortfall of supply,"
Hashim said, adding that the shortfall will probably increase to
2.1 million tons in 1995 and to 2.9 million tons in 1996.(kod)