Ambuja Cement Limited (ACL) is planning a major expansion in Himachal Pradesh. The company which has a cement plant at Darlaghat in Solan with a capacity of 2Mta is planning to enhance capacity by another 2Mta with a total investment of Rs 700 crore in a phased manner. It is further planning to double the headcount at the plant which currently stands at 1,000. The company also has plans to put up a clinker grinding unit in Nalagarh in Himachal with a capacity of 1Mta. "The expansion project at Darlaghat would be commissioned by June 2009 and it would take the total production capacity of the company across India by over its current capacity of 18 mtpa," revealed a highly placed official with ACL to FE. Going ahead with its expansion spree, the company is further planning to come up with a cement grinding unit at Panipat with a capacity of 1.5Mta. The project is likely to begin in 2009 and would catalyse an investment of Rs 200 crore. 
 
 This apart from a cement grinding unit at Uttarakhand with an investment of Rs 150 crore. "The company has also expanded capacities across other locations, primarily at Beawar in Rajasthan and Chattisgarh where it is planning another cement plant," said the official. It is to be noted that among other investments, the company already has two grinding units in Punjab. The grinding unit at Ropar has a capacity of 2.5 mtpa and the Bhatinda unit has a capacity of 0.6 mtpa. It also has a captive power plant at Ropar with a capacity of 24 mw. "The capacity of the power plant has also been scaled to 30 mw. The plant currently has two boilers and two turbo generators. One more boiler is under installation," informed the official.  
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