Government may step in to outsource the Samba plant

India's government is considering to outsource the operation of the Samba cement plant, part of JK Cement Group.

"The delay in its launching [the Samba plant] has been attributed to inordinate delay on the release of equity by the government and also delay in the installation of receiving station by PDP," sources maintained.

An official of the JK Cements Ltd told the Kashmir Observer that the final decision is yet to be taken, but the government may step in to outsource the Samba plant, because the relevant authorities have been slow to review the case.

Sources maintained that though the government has considered outsourcing the production and marketing, at the same time the contractor who was awarded the plant and equipment installation contract has claimed a revision of INR50m (US$0.7m).

Sources said that the board of directors in its recent meeting has ordered the management of JK Cement to look into the matter.

There were also reports that government had decided to close down the cement plant,which employs around 10,000 employees, but staff had resisted the move.