New cement plant in Krichev District to come on stream in November

MOGILEV, 4 June (BelTA) – A new dry process cement plant near Krichev will be put into operation in November 2012. The plant will produce 1.8 million tonnes of cement a year, the director of Krichevtsementnoshifer Leonid Skotsky said at a session at the Architecture and Construction Ministry of Belarus which was held jointly with representatives of the Chinese CITIC Construction company, BelTA learnt.

The construction of the cement plant is a major investment project implemented jointly with CITIC Construction. To build a new plant and all associated infrastructure from scratch in tight schedule is a true challenge. We are more than halfway through. Now we are approaching the stage that requires careful attention and efforts of all parties concerned in order to put the plant into operation on time, Leonid Skotsky noted.

According to the chairperson of the board of directors of CITIC Construction Hong Bo, the process of construction is held back for several reasons. Firstly, such a huge project is a debut one for CITIC Construction in Belarus. Secondly, the equipment for the project is delivered not only from China but also from other states, which causes difficulties in installation operations. Thirdly, it took time to reach complete mutual understanding, overcome the language barrier and understand various technical details and features.

“Today I observed the process of installation and construction works and I did not notice any obstacles to further progress. We can settle all issues in a prompt manner. It is very important now that we unite efforts and maximally use the resource base to speed up the construction process. If we do this, the plant will come on stream on time,” Hong Bo believes. She assured that Chinese counterparts will do their utmost to reach the goal.

The Chinese company is in charge of an investment program to upgrade the cement plants and cement production lines in Belarus. First investment contacts between Belarus and CITIC Construction were established in 2007. The two sides are currently cooperating on the construction of three new cement plans and improvement of power supply systems on three operating cement plants in Belarus.

At the end of April 2012 Krasnoselskstroymaterialy commissioned a new production line with the production capacity of 1.8 million tonnes of cement a year. Belarusian Cement Plant (Kostyukovichi) will deliver a similar production line by 1 July and Krichevtsementnoshifer in November 2012. The construction is funded by China EXIM Bank.