Lafarge Algeria and Souakri’s joint venture, the 2.7Mta Biskra cement works, will enter into production in 2016, a group official said on Tuesday.

During a presentation to journalists at Lafarge Algeria’s Oggaz plant in Mascara, Serge Dubois, the company’s director of Public Affairs and Communications, highlighted that the plant will bring the group’s overall capacity to more than 11Mta.

Currently, the overall production of group Lafarge Algeria is 8.7Mta from two cement works: M’sila and Oggaz.

With an investment totalling DZD30bn (US$272m), the Biskra project is owned through 51 per cent of shares by Algeria-based Souakri and the remainder by Lafarge. (Source: Algerie Presse Service)