Jun 29 2005 |
more articles from
|
Cement Industry: A MAD 5.87 billion investment to boost capacity Consortium takes advantage of bright prospects in the sector
A three-company syndicate of leading cement manufacturers on Tuesday signed in Rabat a MAD 5.8 billion investment convention with the Moroccan government. This latest deal confirms the growth recorded lately in real estate in Morocco.The ceremony was chaired by Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou and attended by many officials and ministers.
The investment, which is expected to create 270 new jobs, will be undertaken by major players of the cement industry, all of which are subsidiaries of foreign majors and are listed in the Casablanca Stock Exchange. The syndicate is made up of Ciments du Maroc , Holcim Maroc, and Lafarge Ciments.
Ciments du Maroc , a subsidiary of Italcementi of Italy, is to invest a total of MAD 1.6 billion. In addition to an overhaul programme of its existing facilities in Agadir, Marrakech, and Safi, the investment will also go to the set up of a new industrial oven in Agadir.
The provisions of the convention also call for the Moroccan subsidiary of Swiss giant Holcim to invest MAD 2.8 billion. This includes the construction of a new cement plant near Settat, 60 km south of Casabalanca. The Rabat-based company is also expected to modernize and extend its existing plants. It already operates two sites in Fez and Oujda, and has a grinding center in Nador.
The Moroccan subsidiary of Lafarge of France is expected to invest MAD 1.47 billion over a three-year period dedicated exclusively to the extension and modernization of all of its existing plants, except that of Tetouan which went into operation recently.
The company produces cement, clinker, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in plants of Bouskoura, Tangier, Meknes, and Safi.
The three companies are said to cash in from promising prospects in the construction of infrastructure and real estate. The Moroccan government has launched in recent years an ambitious project of low-market housing which includes 200,000 units. "We are building around 100,000 new homes per year," said Jettou after the signing ceremony, adding that the pace will be consolidated in the future.
Major real-estate projects in tourism are also underway in the framework of the 2010 strategy of which a cornerstone is the "Azur Plan". It consists in building six integrated beach resorts that will raise the total bed-capacity of the sector to 230,000. Total investments are expected to top MAD 20 billion.
According to the annual report of the cement sector published early this week by the Moroccan bosses union, CGEM, a total of MAD 8 billion investments are forecasted in the sector by 2008, and will add 5.5 million tons to the present production capacity.
Cement sales in Morocco in 2004 topped 9.8 million tons, up 5.3% year-on-year according to CGEM. A total of 22,700 tons of clinker were exported to Spain, and 116,300 tons of cement to west Africa.
Cement sales per capita in 2004 totaled 328 kg, 20 kg more than in 2003. Industry analysts forecast a 5% growth for 2005.
Zawya Comment Policy
-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Copyright © 2012 Zawya Ltd. All rights reserved. |
provided by www.zawya.com |
Post Your Comment