Indonesia: Kupang Cement to start work on new Kupang plant

Kupang Cement Indonesia's third factory in Kupang will soon be realised, according to the Governor of East Nusa Tenggara, Frans Lebu Raya.

"The preparation phase has been completed. The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled to be held on 10 March this year," he informed ANTARA in Kupang, Monday.

He further stated that the new IDR2trn (US$1.49bn) plant will have a 1.5Mta cement capacity and will be built in the Bolok Industrial District. The construction will take approximately three years, from the land-clearing process, design to the actual construction stage. 

Kupang Cement's current production capacity is 0.3Mta installed in Kupang I and II. Once the new works becomes operational, capacity will rise to 1.8Mta. The result of the partnership between PT Semen Indonesia and PT Semen Kupang, the facility will produce sufficient quantity to meet both domestic and export demands.

The factory was initially to be named PT Semen Indonesia, but the governor requested for the city's name to also be included, so that it can still be associated with the existing factories, which are "Kupang I" and "Kupang II," he revealed. "I want to include the name of the city (in the company's name) to also remind the people of Kupang that they have large factories here," he pointed out.