Indonesian cement producer PT Semen Tonasa plans to build a new production unit with a production capacity of 2.5Mta to cost up to Rp3 trillion (US$319.1m).

President of the subsidiary of state-owned PT Semen Gresik Syattar Taha said the country needs new cement factories to prevent shortage in cement supply in the coming few years.

Based on an estimate that domestic consumption grow by eight per cent annually, supply will start to fall short of requirement in 2008, Taha was quoted by the newspaper Bisnis Indonesia as predicting.

He said construction of the new unit that will expand the annual capacity of the company to 5.98Mt, is expected to start next year to be operational in 2009.