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BCIC signs JV agreement with Saudi co

Cement and clinker factory will be set up in Chhatak under the deal


Published : 30 Jun 2020 10:18 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 08:53 PM

Saudi-Bangla Integrated Cement Company Limited, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) and Engineering Dimnesion International Investment LLC (EDII) signed a joint venture agreement at BCIC Bhaban in the capital on Monday, says a press release.

Earlier, during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in October, 2018, a MoU was signed for setting up a cement and clinker manufacturing factory in Chhatak, Sunamganj. 

After a detailed feasibility study by Singapore-based DG Infratech Pvt Ltd, the two institutions have finally signed the agreement to set up the project, the release said.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Agreement was signed virtually by Mustafizur Rahman, Chairman of BCIC, and Hejji Mohammad Najeeb M, President and CEO of EDII, the release adds.

EDII’s Country Representative Golam Mostafa and other officials led by Yaseer Mahmud were present at the signing ceremony. Senior officials from the Ministry of Industries of the GOB and BCIC were also present to grace the occasion. The representative of DG Infratech Pte. Ltd., Singapore, Syed Javed Iqbal was also present at the occasion.

Driven by the favorable economic conditions in Bangladesh for its cement industry, a group of Saudi Investors and BCIC agreed to move ahead with the plan of setting up an integrated cement manufacturing plant with state-of-the-art technology. 

The production capacity of the proposed plant will be 12,000 tons of clinker and 3,000 tons of cement per day based on supply of limestone from the neighboring state of Meghalaya, India, through a long conveyor belt. 

The project will cater to the demand of the clinker-based cement factories in Bangladesh by supplying four million tons of clinker per annum against the country’s import of nineteen million tons per annum and save US Dollar 225 million in foreign exchange annually. The project is expected to create employment opportunities for 700 peoples (directly and indirectly).  

The total investment in the project has been estimated at US Dollar 353 million (Taka 3,000 cr.) on a 163 acre of land adjacent to the existing site of the Chhatak Cement Factory in Sunamganj. The project is expected to start commercial operation by June 2023.