ACC Limited, manufacturer of cement and concrete, today launched a new plant at Kudithini village in Bellary district in north Karnataka. The new plant, ACC Kudithini Cement Works, is the 16th cement plant in its network and the fourth in Karnataka.
The company has invested Rs 370 crore to set up the 1.2 million tonne greenfield cement plant. The clinker is supplied by ACC’s Wadi unit in Gulbarga district and dispatched by rail and road. The company has set up its own railhead and siding with unloading and handling facilities.
This fully-automated cement grinding plant enables the company gain access by road and rail to important markets of Karnataka and the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
ACC Kudithini will produce portland slag cement (PSC) using slag from the Bellary region which is now an important source of iron and steel. ACC Kudithini can also supply cement in bulk tankers to large construction projects, concrete product makers and to ready-mixed concrete and batching plants in the local region.
The company plans to invest Rs 1,500 crore in 2009-10 and Rs 1,300 crore in 2010-11 on expansion. It is in the process of expanding its Wadi plant in Gulbarga district from the present 5.8 million tonne per annum to 8.8 million tonne per annum by March 2010, thus making it the single largest cement kiln in the world, said Sumit Banerjee, managing director, ACC Limited.
ACC is also increasing its capacity at Chandrapur in Maharashtra and Bargarh in Orissa as part of its expansion plan for the current year. With this expansion, its installed capacity will go up from 22.63 million tonnes per annum to 25 million tones per annum by middle of this year.
Recently, the company inaugurated a Greenfield cement grinding plant at Thondebhavi in Chikballapur district of Karnataka at an investment of Rs 350 crore.
