Holcim shells out Tk 300cr for expansion

Aidan Lynam

Holcim Cement has expanded its production capacity by 7 lakh tonnes a year with an investment of Tk 300 crore to cater to the growing demand for quality cement in the domestic market.
With the new expansion at Meghnaghat, the total production capacity of the cement manufacturer now stands at 20 lakh tonnes a year.
The cement industry is growing by about 8 percent a year and the country too is seeing “buoyant” GDP and population growth, Aidan Lynam, area head of South Asia region of Holcim Group, said at a media briefing in Dhaka.
Lynam said there is ample opportunity for the cement manufacturer to grow as the per capita cement consumption is the lowest among the regional countries and many big infrastructure projects are in the pipeline.
“We want to be a part of the country's infrastructure development and economic growth by providing quality products. We are not selling only bags of cement—we are committed to providing construction solutions to our clients.”
Asked about the company's decision to expand production when the country's cement production capacity is almost double the requirement of around 1.8 crore tonnes a year, he said: “We would fall behind in market share if we do not make investment for expansion.”
“Bangladesh has geared up for the next step, so we are also gearing up for the next step,” Lynam said, adding that Holcim may be fifth or sixth cementer manufacturer in terms of volume, but they are the best when it comes to quality.
In addition to the capacity expansion, Holcim also installed integrated software, SAP (systems, applications and process).
Through SAP implementation, key business processes like manufacturing, sales, distribution, supply chain, accounting and controlling have been fully integrated to ensure integrity and reliability of the management information system.
Rajnish Kapur, managing director of Holcim Cement (Bangladesh), said the additional volumes from capacity expansion would cater to the continuously growing demand for Holcim cement, as the company has had constraints in assuring product availability to all customers recently during the peak period.