The new cement plant at Biskra by CILAS was inaugurated on 17 October 2017 in the presence of the Minister of Industry and Jean-Jacques Gauthier, CEO of LafargeHolcim Algérie, among others.

CILAS is a joint venture between the Algerian Souakri Group and LafargeHolcim with a 51-49 per cent share split.

The new Biskra plant has a production capacity of 2.7Mta and will enable Algeria to be self-sufficient in its cement supply, particularly to the southern part of the country. The project represents an investment of DZD35bn (US$305m). Built in 21 months with more than 5m accident-free hours, CILAS includes 600 staff.