Pakistan’s biggest cement maker to get mine expansion permit

Pakistan’s 7958 Lucky Cement is said to be close to winning a permit to extract limestone in Punjab province, allowing the country’s largest maker of the building material by market value to implement its expansion plans.

Bloomberg reports that the company will get a limestone quarry for a cement plant in Punjab, and the local administration has approved the deal, said Arshad Mehmood, secretary for Punjab’s mines and minerals department. An agreement is expected to be signed in the next few days, he said.

The Karachi-based cement maker is set to join producers including Attock Cement Pakistan and 8008 DG Khan Cement that have announced expansion plans as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif looks to boost infrastructure spending.

“Everything is positive for construction,” Bilal Khan analyst at Karachi-based Global Securities Pakistan, is reported saying by Bloomberg. “If growth stays at the same pace, the person who decides to expand today is the winner.”

Sharif is seeking to accelerate growth in the US$247 billion economy to the fastest pace since 2008 with the spending, while China and Pakistan have announced a 3,000 kilometre, $46 billion economic corridor, which includes roads, ports, power plants and dams.

Lucky Cement’s shares have advanced about 50% in the past year, outperforming the 21% gain in the benchmark KSE100 Index.

Bloomberg reports that the company operates two plants at 85% of capacity in Pakistan. It also has a cement grinding facility in Iraq and is part of a venture that will build a cement plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo.