Qatar cement demand put at 20,000tpd

The Gulf Cement Company (GCC) said on 15 July that the demand for cement in the country was estimated at 20,000tpd. This meant that 60 per cent additional capacity needed to be built, the company’s General Manager, Dr Omar Ibrahim Yagi, said at a news briefing held to announce half-yearly financials.

Estimates of the additional demand, he said, were based on studies. "Our plant, therefore, comes at the right time when construction activity in the country is booming," he stressed.

Yagi said that all the necessary formalities to launch the project had been completed. The licence had been acquired from the government and studies on raw materials and other technicalities, including the requirement of power and gas, were over.

Denmark’s Flsmidth had been chosen for design and equipment procurement, while India’s Smplex had been identified as the contractor for civil work. Two other Indian companies – DCIL and GGSC – will carry out engineering and civil consultancy, respectively.

The GCC has launched two subsidiaries, namely, Gulf Company for Cement Services and Gulf Company for Transformation Industry to complement its activities.

Execution of this latest plant will take 28 months and the implementation phase has already begun on May 1. However, an important part of the plant will be executed before the set schedule and will be ready for operation by 2008.