Start-up of Fancesa project postponed to 1Q21

The coronavirus pandemic has seen a readjustment of the work schedule of the new plant being built in Sucre, Bolivia, by Fancesa as COVID-19 forced a 70-day quarantine upon the project. Start-up of the cement plant is now expected in the first quarter of 2021.

While the project currently stands at 91 per cent completion, the remaining share of the work is the “most complicated”, according to Armin Cortez, chairman of the Board.

"It should be remembered that we have had setbacks not only due to this effect of the pandemic (70 days of no activity), since we were already suffering another damage due to an event of almost 70 days last year (political crisis), plus conditions that are not regular of operation, we are talking about between six and seven months of delay in the schedule,” said Fancesa’s General Manager, Carlos Díaz.

However, a lot will depend on the sanitary conditions in place for the coronavirus pandemic, the political uncertainty caused by the General Election and the economic situation.