Beirut (APD) - As part of the Syria's plans to expand its cement production capacities, two state-owned Syrian companies and one of China's largest construction firms announced this week the finalization of an agreement to construct a $200 million black cement factory in Adra near Damascus.
The state-operated Chinese Sino Hydro Corporation agreed with the Syrian Cement and Building Materials Company and Farzat Company for Development -- a Syrian construction firm -- to build the new cement factory with a production capacity of 1.8 million tons of packed and liquid cement, the international daily Asharq-al-Awsat reported Wednesday.
The Sino Hydro Corporation will own 55%, Farzat Company for Development will hold 20% ownership and the rest of the shares will be offer to the public.
Syria's General Organization for Cement and Building Materials (GOCBM), the only manufacturer of cement in the country with six operating plants, has been under strong pressure to cope with rising demand for cement. GOCBM produced around 5 million tons in 2004.
Although production of cement was opened to private investors in the late nineties, no private investment has yet materialized in this sector.
In late September, the Syrian government issued a license to a group of Spanish and Syrian investors to build a $167 million cement manufacturing plant in Homs with a capacity of two million tons annually. Also earlier this year, a group of Gulf investors were given the green light to build a $150 million cement plant with a capacity to produce 1 million tons annually.
According to the Syrian ministry of industry, several projects are in the planning and could bolster the cement industry. These projects include a plant to produce Black Portland cement for domestic and export purposes utilizing domestic limestone, manufacturing of regular and ferric cement-pipes, a factory for processing volcanic ashes utilized in cement industry and a unit for the production of cement roof tiles utilizing domestic cement.
Rising demand and high prices for cement in the last two years, has created a black market in the cement industry. And until the new planned projects to increase cement production are online, imports are expected to increase, the daily said. [FC-TS]
© APD (Arab Press Digest) 2005
