Algeria: GICA to increase capacity to 18.5Mta by end-2017

State-owned Groupe Industriel des Ciments d’Algérie (GICA) will invest DZD154bn (US$1.6bn) to increase its production by from 11.5Mta currently up to 18.5Mta by the end of 2017.

The investment involves the expansion of two cement plants and construction of a further two cement facilities, the group's CEO Rabah Guessoum told Algerie Press Service (APS).

Expansion work at Chlef and Ain Kebira (Setif) has already been launched, and will allow the group to reach a production capacity of 15.5Mta by the end of 2016. Output at the Ain Kebira works will triple from 1Mta to 3Mta by the end of 2016, while that of the Chlef plant will double from 2Mta to 4Mta, he said.

The two new cement plants will be built in the provinces of Bechar and Oum El Bouagh,i and are due to start production by the end of 2017, he added.