Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Trade and Industry has approved the establishment of a 550 mln Saudi riyal (US$146.7m) cement company, it was reported on July 12, 2005.  The company is called Medina Cement Co and will build a plant in al-Washm area, 135 km northwest of the capital Riyadh, according the company’s deputy board chairman, Ahmad bin Amr Abdul Latif. The plant, which is expected to start operations in the first half of 2007 will initially have an annual capacity of 2Mta.