Alberici Constructors Inc. has been tapped as partner of a joint venture to build the world’s largest cement plant near Ste. Genevieve.
 
Washington Group International of Boise, Idaho, and Alberici formed Washington Group Alberici to be the general contractor for the $905 million project. The plant, owned by Swiss cement company Holcim Ltd., is expected to begin operations in the third quarter of 2009. 
 
Once operational, the 1,700-acre plant is expected to produce 400 metric tons of cement a year and will have about 200 full-time employees and a payroll of $10m. 
 
About 1,200 construction workers will build the plant, Holcim spokeswoman Nancy Tully said.
 
"It will be done by all union labor," she said. 
 
The rising cost of construction materials has driven up the price tag for the plant, originally estimated at $600 million. Site preparation by Bloomsdale Excavating Co. of Bloomsdale, Mo., began earlier this year. 
 
Washington Group International is one of the world’s largest engineering, management and construction companies. It has 5,000 employees in more than 30 countries.
 
Last year, Alberici won the platinum-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design award from the U.S. Green Building Council for design, construction and operation of its corporate headquarters in Overland. 
 
Holcim’s plans for the cement plant ran into stiff opposition from environmental groups and Missouri state regulators, who were concerned about potentially harmful air emissions from the plant’s operations and damage to the surrounding land along the Mississippi River. 
 
But the cement maker won over state regulators by agreeing to local air quality monitoring, energy efficiency and land preservation projects. 
 
"We share Holcim’s commitment to providing a safe work environment and helping to make this environmentally sound cement plant a reality," Greg Kozicz, Alberici Corp.’s president, said. 
 
The plant will be on a 3,900-acre site owned by Holcim (USA) Inc., of Dundee, Mich., Holcim’s U.S. subsidiary. The 2,200 acres not used for the plant will be part of a managed conservation area. 
 
Other contractors include MC Industrial of St. Louis and T.E. Ibberson of Minneapolis, designers and builders of concrete silos for the plant; Korte Co. of St. Louis, designer and builder of the main office building; GE Energy of Norcross, Ga., designer, supplier and builder of a 160-megawatt substation; and FLSmidth & Co. of Denmark, whose U.S. op