Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales has kick-started construction of Empresa Pública Cementos de Bolivia's (Ecebol) new 1.3Mta cement works in  Jeruyo, Caracollo in the country’s Oruro department.

The contract for the greenfield plant has been awarded to Spanish-German consortium Polysius-Imensa-VSM-Sacyr.

The state-owned cement factory, which will be situated at 4000m above sea level on 74ha site, carries a price tag of US$306m. According to a study by Sergeotecmin, the site has 87.3Mt of limestone immediately available, a further 112.13Mt as reserve and an additional 8.7Mt as inferred resource – sufficient to supply the cement works over the next 90 years.

President Morales, has asked Ecebol to reconsider the construction time of 36 months. "I calculate that it could be built in a year," he said.