Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd, Japan (IHI), has completed 90 per cent of constructive works and 60 per cent of technical works on the Amran Cement Plant Expansion Project, according to Saba news agency. Last week, Amran Governor Taha Abdullah Hajar, along with the director of Amran Cement Factory met with the Japanese Ambassador to Sana’a Yuichi Ichii, and a representative of IHI. The meeting focused on the work progress and delays in the project. The funding and investment cost of the project reached YR 30 billion, financed by the plant itself.
The local state-owned Yemen Cement Manufacturing & Marketing Co has awarded a cement plant construction contract to a Japanese joint venture. The partners in the planned undertaking include IHI and Nissho Iwai Corp. The partnership will be responsible for building a complex with a production capacity of 3300 tons per day. The companies are handling all phases of plant construction, including design, manufacture, procurement, installation, test operation, and operation guidance. The new production line at the Amran plant was expected to increase production from 600,000 tons to 750,000 tons annually.
At the beginning of the current year, the Yemeni market suffered from a shortage of cement materials. Last June, Presidential orders were given to tackle the escalation in cement prices, and a parliamentary committee began investigations into the reasons for the shortage. Dowaid said the reason was the increasing demand for cement, and that local cement production covered only 43 per cent of local market needs. “The shortage is not only in Yemen, but it is also present in other Arab countries,” he told the committee. He said the factory had always complied with the new official price of YR 900 per 50km bag, and spoke of the role of the local cement market monitoring bodies that prevent price violations.
