CMS plans to invest in third Sarawak cement plant, Malaysia

CMS Bhd (CMSB) plans to invest in a third cement plant to meet the growing demand in Sarawak.

Group managing director Datuk Richard Curtis said the new facility, which would have a production capacity of 600,000 to 700,000tpa, would be built in Mambong near here where the group's clinker plant is located.

“The proposed third plant will cost about MYR150m. We (CMSB) will make a decision (on the proposed project) in the next three months,” he told StarBizWeek after a briefing yesterday.

The briefing was conducted by CMS Cement Sdn Bhd executive director and chief executive officer Othman Abdul Rani. CMS Cement, which is wholly-owned by CMSB, is Sarawak's sole cement manufacturer.

Curtis said the proposed new plant was to meet Sarawak's future cement requirements as the existing two cement plants were close to operating at their combined installed capacity of 1.75Mta.

“The estimated year-on-year cement requirement growth is six per cent per annum. The (new) demand comes from the development of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score), Samalaju (Industrial Park) and infrastructure projects,” he added.