The Lafarge Cement group will invest nearly two MAD billion for the extension of the Tetouan factory and the transformation of Tangier's into a modern cement grinding station, MAP news agency reported.
The convention of this investment was signed, on Tuesday in Rabat, between the Moroccan government and Lafarge Cement, during a ceremony chaired by the Moroccan Prime Minister, Driss Jettou.
According to this convention, Lafarge will fund the extension of the Tetouan factory, in order to double its capacity to two million tons of cement per annum, and the transformation of the Tangier factory into a modern grinding station with a yearly capacity of one million ton.
The extension of the Tetouan factory will include a line of production clinker, workshops of grinding, storage and cement packing.
On this occasion, Jettou underlined the current dynamic of development in the Kingdom, quoting as an example the large construction projects in Morocco, particularly those in the field of social housing.
The Prime Minister greeted the efforts made by Lafarge Cement to accompany this dynamic.
For their part, Lafarge's officials described the Moroccan market as interesting, stressing that this convention comes to reinforce the position of the company, especially in the Northern region where the demand is expected to increase to two million tons by 2014, as a result of the ongoing development in the region.
Since 2001, Lafarge Cement and Morocco signed three conventions totalling more than MAD 5.7 billion. The first, signed in January 2001, concerned nearly MAD 2.3 billion primarily for the construction of the Tetouan factory.
Signed in June 2005, the second convention (MAD 1.5 billion) is related to the extension of the Bouskoura factory and the extension and modernisation of the Meknes, Safi and Tangier factories.
Present in 76 countries throughout the world, Lafarge Cement achieved a turnover of Euros 16 billion in 2005.
© Morocco Times 2006
