As LafargeHolcim Bangladesh has successfully completed its amalgamation with Holcim Cement (Bangladesh) Ltd last year, Rajesh Surana, CEO of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh Ltd, said the company is now working to transform the integrated company as a building material solutions provider from a cement company.

"The integration of two most premium and globally-reputed companies has lots of synergies and benefits, so it plans to build on strengths of both the companies and provide the customers with multiple products and solutions under one umbrella rather than being a mere cement manufacturer,"  Rajesh Surana told the Financial Express.

LafargeHolcim Bangladesh has one fully-integrated plant in Chhatak, Sunamganj and three grinding plants near Dhaka and Khulna. The CEO said they are able to supply good quality cement to the customers with over 4.2Mt  of cement capacity.

"Our plant at Chhatak is unique as it is the only dry-process clinker producing plant in the country," Mr Surana said. "With per tonne of clinker produced by us, the country saves approximately US$30 in foreign exchange. We are also the highest taxpayer in the country in our segment."

There are over 33 cement manufacturers operational in the country but most of them without full capacity utilisation. The industry capacity utilisation is around 55-60 per cent, which is creating short term inconvenience for the sector.

Mr Surana said present per capita cement consumption is approximately 195kg, which is much lower than other Asian countries such as India, Malaysia and Singapore.

"This creates unique opportunity for the quality cement industries in Bangladesh to grow and to serve the customers better," he said. "With a consistent GDP growth of above seven per cent, the demand for cement is expected to grow consistently.”