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SL’s largest cement factory opens to meet 40% national demand

08 Mar 2022

  • President declares plant open, lays stone for Ceylon Steel Corp. 
  • State-of-the-art facility involves fully automated cement manufacturing process
    By Shenal Fernando  The cement shortage plaguing Sri Lanka since the exacerbation of the forex liquidity crisis in the country appears to be at an end following the inaugural opening of Lanwa Sanstha Cement Corporation (Pvt.) Ltd. (LSCC), Sri Lanka’s biggest cement manufacturing plant, and the opening of Phase One of its cement manufacturing facility in the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) at Mirijjawila, Hambantota with an annual production capacity of 2.8 million tonnes which amounts to 40% of the local demand. Attending the grand opening ceremony of LSCC yesterday (7), Chief Guest and President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa also placed the foundation stone for the new steel manufacturing plant of Ceylon Steel Corporation (Lanwa Sanstha Wane) and the manufacturing facility of the new venture Lanwa Sanstha Roofing (Pvt.) Ltd., which is scheduled to commence operations by April 2023. The LSCC cement manufacturing facility constructed on a 63-acre extension of the EPZ at Mirijjawila, Hambantota is a cement grinder plant. Under Phase One, the cement grinder plant involving an investment of around $ 100-120 million will possess an annual production capacity of 2.8 million tonnes which amounts to 40% of the current local demand for cement, standing annually at around seven million tonnes. Currently, the supply of cement from local manufacturers stands at three million tonnes and the remaining demand is supplied by imports. However, due to the current foreign exchange liquidity crisis, importing the required quantities of cement has not been supplied. Consequently, there was a severe shortage of cement in the market, which in turn resulted in a black market for cement with a 50 kg bag of cement going at rates as high as Rs. 2,000 despite a maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs. 1,375. Therefore, the significant local capacity addition by the LSCC plant is expected to play an important role in alleviating the current shortage and stabilising cement prices in the market. Construction of Phase Two of the LSCC cement manufacturing facility has already commenced. Following the completion of Phase Two, the LSCC cement manufacturing facility in the EPZ at Mirijjawila, Hambantota will have a total annual production capacity of four million tonnes. Whereupon Sri Lanka would become self-sufficient in cement and would no longer be reliant on imports to fulfil its local demand. The product range offered by LSCC includes Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Blended Hydraulic Cement (BHC), and Portland Composite Cement (PCC). This state-of-the-art cement manufacturing facility of LSCC will involve a fully automated cement manufacturing process controlled by a central control unit and over 90% of its required raw materials which includes clinker, gypsum, fly ash, and slag will be imported, while the required limestone calcite will be sourced locally. Once the steel manufacturing facility comes online, the required slag can be acquired from the steel facility. The automated cement manufacturing process of the plant involves a 20 km-long conveyor belt from the Hambantota Port, where the cement grinding plant has its own dedicated jetty consisting of two unloaders. Through these two unloading mechanisms, the imported raw material will be unloaded straight from the ship to the conveyor belts by the use of drop chains. The unloading mechanisms at the port possess the capacity to unload 1,600 tonnes per hour. The raw materials unloaded from the ships will be conveyed to the fully automated stacker reclaimer yard of the LSCC cement grinder plant. The LSCC cement manufacturing facility contains Sri Lanka’s largest vertical mill complex consisting of two vertical roll mills, each with a capacity of 200 tonnes per hour allowing for a daily production capacity of 8,000 tonnes. The imported raw materials will be stored in the yard which possesses a capacity of around 75,000 tonnes and a silo with a capacity 60,000 tonnes. The LSCC cement manufacturing facility also contains a state-of-the-art lab which involved an investment of Rs. 500 million, possessing the capacity to carry any test required for industrial purposes.


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