Jaiprakash to invest Rs 400 crore in MP

Cement units to have captive power plants

Jaiprakash Associates Ltd is going to make an investment of Rs 375"�400 crore in Madhya Pradesh under its capacity expansion plan. The company has two cement-manufacturing units in the Rewa district of the state, whose capacities are to be expanded.

The existing plants of the company, namely the Jaypee Rewa Plant and Jaypee Bela Plant have a manufacturing capacity of 2.5 million tonnes and 1.5 million tonnes per annum, respectively.

According to a company source, the company is planning to enhance the capacity of the Jaypee Rewa Plant from 2.5 million tonnes to 3.5 million tonnes, and that of the Jaypee Bela Plant from 1.5 million tonnes to 2.5 million tonnes per annum, by setting up thermal power plants.

The company has a 25-MW thermal power plant in Rewa. And work on a new thermal power plant, also of 25 MW, is nearing completion at the Jaypee Bela Plant, said a source.

The process of investing in stages and the setting up of the new power plant, according to sources, will be completed by February "�March 2005.

Jaypee Rewa produced 211,500 tonnes of cement in May 2004, while Jaypee Bela produced 153,710 tonnes during the same period.

A highly-placed source in the department of industry told Business Standard that two other big cement firms were planning to invest more in Madhya Pradesh.

"Two big cement companies are going to make investments of Rs 400 crore each in the state," a source in the department of industry said.

Madhya Pradesh has a large number of cement companies, including Associated Cement Companies Ltd in Jabalpur; Birla Corporation Ltd, Prism Cement Ltd and Century Textiles and Industries Ltd in Satna; Grasim Industries Ltd in Mandsaur; Jaypee Rewa and Jaypee Bela in Rewa; and Mysore Cements Ltd in Damoh.

The cement production of the state stood at 26 lakh tonnes, which is about 12.47 per cent of the all-India production of 2 crore tonnes.

The cement consumption in the state during May 2004, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, increased by 24.15 per cent. The state consumed 5.16 lakh tonnes of cement during May 2004. However, cement outgo declined by 1.44 per cent at 12.86 lakh tonnes.