RSSAlgerian cement producer GICA is constructing 14 ready-to-use concrete plants with a total annual capacity of 3.5 million m³, which will be operational at the end of May 2015.
The project is part of the group's plan to create 16 plants for total investment of DZD 7.2 billion (€66 million/US$73.92 million).
The 16 plants include 13 fixed sites and three mobile plants, and of the 14 that will be operation in May, 12 are fixed sites and two are mobile plants.
Of the mobile plants, one will be situated in the east of the country and the other in the centre. For the fixed sites, four will be located in the west of Algeria, five in the east and three in the centre.
Before starting the production of ready-to-use concrete, GICA launched the construction of nine aggregate factories, with an annual capacity of 7 million tonnes. Out of the nine units, six are operational and the three others are due to become operational in 2016.
It is also reported that GICA will invest roughly DZD 154 billion (€1.41 billion/US$1.58 billion) in order to increase cement production in Algeria by 38% to 18.5 million tonnes by the end of 2017, compared to 11.5 million tonnes currently.
GICA will increase the production capacity of two existing cement factories, situated in Aïn Kebira and Chlef, and build a further two factories.
The Aïn Kebira site's production capacity will triple and go from producing 1 million tonnes/year to 3 million tonnes/year by the end of 2016 while the Chlef site's capacity will double from 2 million tonnes to 4 million tonnes.
The two new cement factories will be built in Oum El Bouaghi and Béchar and should be operational by the end of 2017.
The Oum El Bouaghi site will be owned by GICA and public construction group
GICA is also in talks with a foreign partner to set up a production plant at El Bayad. Currently, Algeria has 14 public and private cement factories with a production capacity of 19.5 million tonnes/year while local cement demand is at 24.5 million tonnes.
