Araniko Cement Industries has started production from its new plant in Jitpur, Bara, Narayani Zone of Nepal, as the cement industry gears up for further infrastructure and housing developments.
“We have started production and distribution of Advance brand of cement from our new plant in Jitpur,” Bijaya Kumar Nidhi, general manager of Araniko Cement, told Republica press. “Our old plant at Abukhaireni will also produce Advance brand of cement in the near future.”
“We are confident that our product will be of international standard. We have already initiated the process to acquire Nepal Standard (NS) quality certification,” Nidhi added.
Nepal’s scope for infrastructural and housing development holds promise for the country’s cement industry. Nepal is in the initial phase of constructional development: only basic infrastructure has been built with only recently-started housing projects and shopping complexes. The government has pledged to accelerate construction of new roads, airports and hydropower projects, but some say the plan is overly ambitious and suffering from delays.
By 2013, the apparent installed cement capacity will be over 8Mta. About half the units have capacities below 0.1Mta and the top 10 (with 0.3-1Mta ratings) account for over 60 per cent of the total.
