Cement, Energy and Environment

J K CEMENT LINES UP RS. 1500 CR SPREAD J K Cement, the Kanpur- based cement maker, is undertaking brownfield expansion at Mangrol in Rajasthan. It has proposed to set up 5,000 tpd production capacity at the site. The company has approved expansion of grey cement capacity by 2.2 million tonnes at the existing site. It has also approved an additional 1.8 Mt grinding facility at split location in North India for which it is finalizing a site. The expansion cost is estimated at Rs. 1,500 crore, of which Rs. 900 crore will be funded through debt and Rs. 600 crore through equity; A K Saraogi , Chief financial officer, said at an earnings call. The expansion plans include a captive power plant of 25 MW and the projects would be commissioned by September 2012. Courtesy: DNA Mumbai, 02.06.2010. JK LAKSHMI CEMENT TO INVEST RS 100 CR [RMC] J K Lakshmi Cement has revived its plan to set up nearly half-a-dozen ready-mix-concrete (RMC) units to cash in on the surge in demand for the building material, especially in the infrastructure sector, a senior company official said. The JK Group Company, which deferred expansion last year, will invest nearly Rs 100 crore to set up RMC plants in Mumbai, Gujarat and North India. The company will fund the investment through internal accrual, said CEO Shailendra Chouksey. "RMC is the business where the company will concentrate in the next few years as huge opportunity remains untapped," said Mr. Chouksey. JK Lakshmi earns nearly 5% of sales from RMC business. "RMC refers to specifically manufactured concrete - a mixture of the Portland cement, water and aggregates comprising sand and gravel. The demand for RMC is growing in the real estate industry because it reduces labour requirement. Lafarge is market leader with sales of nearly Rs.1,000 crore. Construction companies can save cost by nearly 15-18% by using RMC as it reduces labour requirement, said Rupesh Sankhe, research analyst with Angel Securities. Courtesy: The Economic Times, Mumbai, 16.06.2010. MADRAS CEMENTS WILL SPEND RS.630 CR TO RAISE CAPACITY Madras Cements Ltd plans to invest Rs.630 crore to expand its cement production capacity. The company will set up a second unit with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) at Ariyalur. This will take its total production capacity to 12.49 Mtpa from the present 10.49 Mtpa, according to a company release. The expanded capacity will be in place by June 2011. Madras Cements has five cement factories across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The investment is part of over Rs. 940 crore of capital expenditure the company has planned for the current year. It will also invest Rs.310 crore to establish 85 MW of captive thermal power plant capacity. This includes a 60-MW unit at Ariyalur and a 25-MW plant at RR Nagar. Captive thermal unit The company officials said that the decision to go for captive thermal unit was to address the high power cost. The prevailing shortage of power in the State resulted in the company using high cost diesel-powered generators. Captive power plants will help bring down the power cost significantly. The company also has 185.59 MW of wind power generation capacity. Madras Cements invested Rs. 596.27 crore in fixed assets during 2009-1 0, including adding 4 MW of wind generation capacity. It has also set up a grinding plant of 0.5 Mtpa in Kanchipuram District, 0.5 Mtpa grinding unit at Salem, and 0.95 Mtpa grinding unit at Kolaghat, West Bengal; and one 120 tonne per hour packing plant each near Hyderabad and Nagercoil. These will facilitate Madras Cements reach it markets more aggressively. Cement production during the year increased to 80.26 lakh tonnes (Lt) against 65.26 Lt during the previous year. Sale of cement was higher at 79.54 Lt (65.28 Lt) . Courtesy: The Hindu Business Line, Chennai, 25.05. 2010. OCL INDIA PLAN TO INVEST RS. 300 CR TO EXPAND CAPACITY Cement Maker OCL India, Which clocked more than two– fold jump in net profit at Rs. 55 crore in the January-March quarter, on 10.5.2010 said it plans to invest Rs 300 crore to expand its production capacity. The company's production capacity would increase by one million tonne to 4.8 million tonnes per annum after the said investment. "We plan to increase our grinding capacity by one million tonne. This can take place in an lO