Cement, Energy and Environment

LOCAL SUPPORT FOR LAFARGE PROJECT French cement giant Lafarge's limestone mining project in Meghalaya, which is entangled in legal problems, has received support from an unexpected quarter. The Durbar (traditional tribal village council in Meghalaya) of Nongtrai, the village in East Khasi Hills district where Lafarge Umuiam Mining Pvt Ltd (LUMPL) plans to mine limestone, has come forward to support the project. Durbar secretary Pynshai Rapmai on 9.9.2010 said in a statement that "vested" interests were "giving totally wrong information about the mining project". ''The Nongtrai Durbar and the people are proud to be associated with the project and are also working closely with WMPL to implement the biodiversity conservation plan for protection of ecology and biodiversity in the area," the village council said. It was a section of villagers from Nongtrai village and an NGO, Sheila Action Committee, which dragged LUMPL to the court in 2007. Though the Supreme Court had in November 2007 granted permission to LUMPL to mine limestone in Meghalya, in February 2010, after hearing a petition by 21 local tribals and the Sheila Action Committee, the apex court over-turned its previous order and stayed the mining project. On March 24, though the Union government moved the apex court and made a plea for lifting the ban, citing international commitments and diplomatic relations with Bangladesh, since limestone from Meghalaya will feed a cement plant in the neighbouring country, the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan turned down the plea. Courtesy: The Business Standard Guwahati, 10.09.2010. International Country Profile CHINA: 12TH FIVE-YEAR PLAN TO REIN IN CAPACITY In an effort to curb the cement industry's production overcapacity , the China Cement Association has changed its development policy for the cement industry. Accordingly, the association will step away from the 11thFive– Year Plan's (2006-10) vigorous development of new dry-process technology towards appropriate development in the 12th Five– Year Plan (2011- 2015). According to statistics released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China's cement output hit 1.34bnt in the first 10 months of this year, up 18.7 per cent YoY. The proportion of new dry– process cement rose to 71.8 per cent in 2009, a nine percentage– point YoY increase. This achieved the 11 1 h Five-Year Plan's development goal proposal which targeted a 70 per cent proportion of new dry– process cement by 2010. The ministry highlighted that although China has accelerated the elimination of backwards cement production capacity, it still contains 500 Mt of it. Kong Xiangzhong, secretary-general of the association, expressed other key points of the 1ih Five-Year Plan would be mergers and acquisitions, developing structural adjustment and improving the industry's concentration of production thus eliminating a number of small and medium-sized companies from the market. Courtesy: International Cement Review, January 2010, P6. CEMENT BOOM IN ETHIOPIA Although Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, it is currently experiencing a two-digit economic growth. An essential factor in this economic upswing is the construction sector, a fact that also greatly benefits the country's cement industry. In Ethiopia the available capacities are far too small to meet the increasing demand for cement. More than 1/3 of the present cement consumption is therefore imported , which has driven cement prices up to very high levels. Against this background, a gigantic expansion of cement production capacity is currently taking place. The question is: how much cement will the country actually need in the coming years? Courtesy: ZKG International No.l/8-2010, P59. 83