Yemeni, Saudi investors consider new cement plant

Yemeni and Saudi investors have signed a contract with a Chinese firm to set up a 1Mta cement plant in Yemen at a cost of around US$220 million.

Saudi Arabia’s Al Essayi Group said on Monday that China National Building Material Co. (CNBM) will build the plant. The deal is the second for a cement plant in the poor Arab state this month.

Essayi and its Yemeni partners will each own a 20 per cent stake in the plant, which will be built in the southern Abyan province, some 100km (62 miles) east of Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, according to a source familiar with the project.

The remaining 60 per cent will be offerd to the public at a later stage, the source said.

Earlier this month, China’s Sinoma International signed a deal with the private Yemeni-Saudi Cement Co. to build a 1.6Mta plant at a cost of of US$250 million.

Essayi said the plant will be completed within 22 months and is expected to create 650 job opportunities. The project is the third cement factory being set up in Yemen, which is trying to develop its economy and create jobs for a population estimated at 20 million.

Last year, Sinoma signed a deal with the private Arab Yemen Cement Co. to build a 1.4Mta cement plant in the Red Sea port city of Mukalla within three years. The total cost of the project was estimated at US$250 million.