Indonesia: Chinese plant begins production in West Papua

A new cement plant funded by China’s State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC) has begun operations in the Indonesian state of West Papua, China Daily reports.

The 1.5Mta plant was designed by Anhui Conch and forms part of SDIC’s wider investment strategy in Indonesia. The plant was built at a cost of CNY2.2bn (US$329m) over a 16-month period.

Li Bing, vice president of SDIC, said: "Restrained by weak industrial and logistics foundations in certain parts of Southeast Asia, many Indonesian and foreign construction contractors have to cope with local cement that costs too much and is often in short supply".

The SDIC said that a decision would be made on expanding the plant to 3.0Mta if sales in the first six months met, or exceeded, expectations.