Arghakhanchi Cement is to spend NPR4.13bn (US$38.6m) expanding the output of its cement plant from 1200tpd to 3000tpd, giving it a nominal capacity of around 1Mta. The Kathmandu Post reports that the company has also opened a letter of credit to buy a factory based on VRM technology from FLSmidth.

Managing director, Rajesh Agrawal, said: “If we don’t increase our capacity and achieve economy of scale, we will vanish once big plants with foreign investment start producing cement.

“Large-scale foreign investment is one of the reasons why we are expanding our capacity along with still high clinker imports from India. Our factory will be based on domestic clinker.”