Tender for Jabal Saraj Cement to be re-issued

Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) in Afghanistan said they will re-issue a tender for the construction of the Jabal Saraj cement factory.

MoMP officials said the cement plant project had been put out to tender in the past and that an Afghan company had looked set to win the contract. However, the High Economic Council decided to reissue the tender to find a more qualified company.

According to MoMP officials, once built, the factory should be able to produce up to 1Mta of cement and that the winning company should be able to invest up to US$170m in the factory.

Khan Jan Alokozay, ACCI deputy head, said if government establishes factories that can produce enough cement for the domestic market, Afghanistan will save up to US$500m a year.

"We support the activities of the current government in working in this regard. If this project gets implemented, it will benefit us a lot," said Mr Alokozay.

Ministry of Commerce and Industries statistics show that Afghanistan imports around 10,000t of cement from Tajikistan, Iran and Pakistan in a day, while the four cement factories in the country produce less than 1000tpd cement.