Ambuja Cements seeks more time to execute AP project

Ambuja Cements Ltd. | Cement & Construction Materials | Construction & Infrastructure | BSE: 500425 | NSE: AMBUJACEM

19 May 2011 Evaluate

Ambuja Cements proposed Greenfield cement plant at Nadikudi in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh may be delayed as it has sought more time from the state government for executing its proposed project. Late last month, the company had written a letter to the chief secretary seeking time till December 2013 to execute the project, stating that the company now wants to increase the project size to 5.75-million tonne capacity.

Initially Ambuja Cement had been silent on project implementation but when the state ministry for mines reviewed the status of cement projects that were given limestone mining leases based on the investment, the company acted on it.

In 2008 the company had got all the necessary approvals, including limestone mining leases for its project, which was originally proposed with a 2-million tonne capacity with an investment of Rs 600 crore along with a grinding unit at Kakinada.

The cement sector in AP was understandable considering the surplus capacities that exist in the state. AP has over 40 million tonne production capacity, including the ongoing expansion. South, which has the largest installed capacity (90 million tonne in FY 2010) in the cement sector compared with any other region in the country, registered the lowest capacity utilisation of 76 per cent last year while the consumption within the region stood at 57 per cent.