Akkord Cement is preparing to more than double capacity at its recently-launched Gazakh Cement plant in Azerbaijan over the next three years.

Line No 1 of the Gazakh plant, which was commissioned on 5 July 2013 in the presence of
Azerbaijan president Illham Aliyev, has a cement capacity of 1-1.2Mta. SC Endüstri of Turkey was the project’s main contractor. In a second phase of construction involving a 2Mta kiln line, Akkord Cement plans to hike capacity to keep apace with rising domestic requirements as well as serving nearby export markets.

Suat Chalbiyiyk, deputy chairman of Akkord Board of Directors, told AZ Daily News: "Within the second phase of production we intend to increase production of clinker up to 2Mt and cement production up to 3Mt. We, as Akkord, want to bring the production up to such a level to sell clinker and cement not only in Azerbaijan, but also in the neighbouring countries, together with all players in the cement production market. Now we aim to cover the local market, which is big enough. Already in 2016 we plan to increase the production capacity of cement up to 3Mta, as we estimate by that time the cement demand is going to grow up to 5.5-6Mt.”

He emphasized that with implementation of the projects envisaged in Concept "Azerbaijan 2020: Look into the Future" by that time the amount of production per capita will be 750kg against the current 400-450kg.