Venezuelan-Iranian cement plant

A cement plant will be built in Monagas, northern Venezuela, as a result of a strategic alliance between Venezuelan state heavy industry holding company CVG and Iranian cement company Ehdasse Sanat Corporation, CVG said on February 5, 2004. The construction sector will be able to offer more cement after the plant starts operations in Monagas. The plant will have a capacity of some one million tonnes of cement annually. The start of the construction works is yet to be defined.

Ehdasse Sanat Corporation will invest between $185 mln (147.65 mln euro) and $200 mln (159.62 mln euro) in the construction of the plant, CVG president Francisco Rangel Gomez said. He was recently on a trip to Iran.  Some 247 new jobs will be created when the plant begins operating. The construction of the plant will make possible to be lowered the costs for construction in Venezuela, offering one million tonnes cement annually on the domestic market.  Ehdasse Sanat Corporation is a state-owned cement company, producing some 5Mta cement. The Iranian company has recently been awarded a contract to build a similar plant in Syria.