Indonesia's state-owned PT Semen Baturaja will build three new plants as a multistage project. At present, the works still require licences and approval from local communities around the project sites.

"In general, the project is ready for implementation, but the process is not yet wrapped up for all the licences needed. Only one of the factories is expected to be implemented by the end of this year or early next year," chief spokesman of the South Sumatra-based company Sahadi said.

The Baturaja II plant will be built immediately in the Baturaja factory complex in the regency of Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU). "The new factory to be built in Ogan Komering Ulu will have a production capacity of 1.5Mta. It is to be completed in 2016," Sahadi said. The new plant will bring Semen Baturaja's production capacity to 3.5Mta in 2016.

The Muaradua plant in the regency of OKU Selatan and and another in Jambi are not yet expected to be built in the near future as the licences are yet to be processed.

The company also has expanded the capacity of its existing factories in Baturaja and Panjang, Lampung. The production capacity of the company’s two existing cement plants has increased to 2Mta since May from 1.2Mta earlier.

PT Semen Baturaja upgraded capacity would be sufficient to supply South Sumatra and neighbouring provinces, Sahadi said.