Lafarge India commissioned the second clinker line at its existing Sonadih cement plant located at Balodabazar in Raipur district.
The new clinkerisation unit will have a capacity 1.6 million tonnes (MT) clinker and will more than double the production of the existing Sonadih plant. The plant currently produces 1.4 MT of the cement making raw material.
At a function yesterday in Sonadih, about 80 km from here, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh commissioned the second clinker line. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge group Bruno Lafont was present on the occasion.
"Chhattisgarh has immense potential in the cement sector while the state's industrial policy has made the region a dream destination for the investors," Singh said. At present, the state produces 11 million tonnes of cement and he is hopeful that production will reach 60 million tonnes in future.
Dr Singh stressed for more cooperation in discharging the corporate social responsibility. "The industries should adopt villages near the plants and develop them as model villages by providing basic amenities and modern infrastructure," he said.
Lafont said the expansion project marked an important step in the company's strategy to develop the cement business in the emerging geographies of which India was a key market.
"We are committed to strengthen our operations here and the new unit will cater to the needs of the existing operations as well as future growth plans," he added.
The additional produce will cater to the requirement of Sonadih (Chhattisgarh) and Jojobera (Jharkhand) plants and will contribute to scale up their overall cement production capacity in future.
