Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that the country will set up a US$221m cement plant in Maturin, in the Venezuelan northern state Monagas.

The facility will be operated by a newly established social production enterprise (EPS) for cement, named Cemento Cerro Azul. The plant will have a capacity of 1Mta. The financing of the project will be guaranteed by the state fund Fonden.

The plant will allow the country to increase its cement production and to meet the growing domestic demand for construction materials, mainly due to the government-backed housing programmes. This will help to decrease Venezuela’s dependence on cement imports.