Hetauda cement completes kiln and cooler maintenance work

The state-owned Hetauda Cement Factory in Nepal resumed operations from Friday after being closed for 36 days for maintenance. A team of 35 technicians from India disassembled the cement plant and repaired the grate cooler and kiln.

"We have already given continuity to cement production after completing repair and maintenance works," said Prem Shankar Singh, general manager of Hetauda Cement. "This maintenance will increase the production capacity of the factory.

"These components were assembled more than 30 years ago and were never repaired until recently," said Singh. “After the maintenance, the production capacity of our factory is expected rise by 10 to 15 per cent."      

Maintenance and repair works cost the cement plant NPR20m (US$195,251). But Raghu Raman Neupane, chairman of the operating committee of the factory, said it was worth the expense. "The maintenance was done with the aim of increasing production capacity." said Mr Neupane.

The operational cost of the factory remains high at NPR30m for electricity each month. More than 221kW of power is required to produce one tonne of cement at the factory. In contrast, private factories are using 95-100kWof electricity to produce the same amount of cement.

The factory management and the board have been making efforts to reduce the cost of production. According to officials, the factory has been facing problems in cutting down production cost after the government announced 25 per cent hike in employees' salary last fiscal year. The plant currently employs around 395 people.

Before undergoing maintenance, the factory was producing cement at up to 64 per cent of the installed capacity and the production was 63 per cent during the last fiscal year, claims Kathmandu Port.

The factory is planning to increase the production capacity to more than 70 per cent of the installed capacity, according to Singh. Last fiscal year, the factory produced 138,000t of clinker although the target was to produce 150,000t.

Similarly, the factory produced 2.76m bags of cement instead of the target of 3.1m bags in the last fiscal year, the paper reports. This year, the state-owned factory plans to produce 180,000t of clinker and 3.7m bags of cement in the current fiscal year which will end in July 2018.