Holcim Romania has announced that it will invest EUR 35m in 2011, 75 per cent over the 2010 value of its investments, in developing environmental and energy efficiency oriented projects, as well as for the modernising and maintenance of its technologies and equipment.

Holcim Romania registered a turnover of EUR 200m in 2010, down by 20 percent compared to 2009, due to the economic crisis effects and difficult market conditions, as officials stated. The operating EBIT dropped by 53 per cent, from EUR54m in 2009 to EUR 25m in 2010.

The highest investments will focus on the Waste Heat Recovery project in Alesd cement plant, which will have an impact on the reduction of the CO2 emissions at the national level and on Energy Efficient Poducts project, that will increase the co-processing capacities of the cement plants in Alesd and Campulung.

“We decided to increase the value of investments in 2011, because we believe in the potential of the local market and we expect that starting with 2012 the construction and real estate market might come back to growth”, stated Markus Wirth, CEO of Holcim Romania. The total value of investments made by Holcim since 1997 has reached over EUR700m, an amount that includes also the acquisitions made so far by the company to extend its activity in Romania.

The Waste Heat Recovery Project (WHR) aims to replace roughly 15 per cent of the electrical energy consumed in Alesd plant with „greener” energy obtained by recovering the residual heat resulted from the clinker manufacturing process. The system therefore generates electrical energy without any additional fossil fuels consumption. The EUR14m investment is the first of its kind in Eastern Europe, as company officials state in a press release. It is an environmental friendly technology that enables indirect fuels savings and reduction of the CO2 emissions (not in the Holcim installation, but at the regional / national level). The value of investment is EUR 14m, of which half will be invested in 2011. The project will be completed by the second quarter of 2012.

Another of the priorities of 2011 in both cement plants of Holcim Romania is to continue focusing on the production of energy efficient and low carbon footprint products. New facilities will be installed in both Campulung and Alesd plants in order to increase the waste co-processing capacity and assure a sustainable resources utilisation and a higher flexibility to use different types of raw materials in the production process. The value of investment is EUR12m, in both plants and the project is estimated to be finalised by the end of the year.

Holcim will also implement new investments projects in its dispatch and milling capacities. The value of the investment is EUR 3.3m and the project is to be completed by the end of this year, at Alesd Cement plant.