Pakistan has massive potential for investment in the cement sector as demand for cement will increase tremendously in the future. This was observed by a high-level delegation of Cemex at a meeting with the acting secretary of the Board of Investment (BOI), Talat Rasheed Miyan, on Monday.

A statement said Mr Talat informed the delegation about the demand of cement which will be driven by the sheer size of its population, expansion in infrastructure, process of construction and re-construction in various areas in addition to proximity with Afghanistan and construction of several dams in future, a scenario that presents excellent investment opportunities in this sector.

The visiting delegation of Cemex, led by Jose L Saenz de Miera, member executive committee, appraised of their operations world wide, as the company is engaged in manufacturing in 35 countries of world producing over 100 million tons of cements annually. The acting secretary of the BOI informed the Cemex delegation that a great demand existed in Pakistan not only for ordinary cement, but also for special kinds of cements used for specialized functions.

Giving an overview of the cement sector, Mr Talat informed that at present there were 22 cement units operating in Pakistan with the total installed capacity of 19Mta. The total investment in the sector amounted to Rs 70 billion approximately and its contribution to GDP stood at 10 per cent or Rs 95 billion per annum, he added.