On April 14, 2009 President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, attended a groundbreaking ceremony for Garadagh OJSC’s new state-of-the-art kiln, AzerTag news agency reported.

Holcim Chief Executive Director Markus Ackermann made a speech at the ceremony and thanked the government for their support to this project.

Construction of the kiln and upgrading the plant will be completed in 2011.

Once the new line comes on-stream, clinker production will increase from 0.8Mt to 1.2Mt and cement production from 1.3Mt to 1.7Mt.