Beirut (APD) - Dubai-based CEMEX Gulf States, a subsidiary of Mexico-based cement multinational, CEMEX, announced on Monday that it will construct a $50 million new grinding factory for cement.
"The estimated investment in the new facility is part of a CEMEX worldwide $500 million expansion capital program planned for 2006 and a step towards meeting increased demand in the UAE," CEMEX said in a statement on Monday.
The factory will have a capacity of 1.6 million tons of cement per year. It will be built over 59,000 square meters of land and it will include buildings for raw material storage, silos, house offices, workshops and a laboratory used for quality control purposes. The factory is expected to be operational by mid 2007.
CEMEX entered the UAE market by way of acquiring UK-based RMC Group in March 2005. This established CEMEX as new owner of RMC Gulf States, a firm supplying ready mix concrete production and ground slag supply to the construction industry in UAE.
CEMEX Gulf States supplies cement to the $4.1 billion Dubai International Airport expansion project.
The company has four subsidiaries (Gulf Quarries, RMC Supermix, Falcon Cement and RMC Topmix), 16 ready-mix concrete plants and an aggregates quarry in UAE.
"We have the capacity to manufacture 97 million tons of cement per year, 77 million cubic meters of ready-mix, and 195 million tons of aggregates. We have annual sales of over $15 billion," said Francisco Perez, regional director of CEMEX Gulf States.
CEMEX, a global player in the production of cement and ready-mix concrete, also has an Egyptian subsidiary, CEMEX Egypt, which owns and operates the Assiut Cement Company. [NI-FC]
© APD (Arab Press Digest) 2006
