The production capacity of the Algerian Cement Industrial Group (Gica) will be increased by 2.2 million tons of additional production per year, starting in March 2019, thanks to the reception of the new Sigus cement plant, located in the wilaya of Oum El Bouaghi, a project that currently totals 87% of advancement rate according to the details provided onsite, by the managers of the Cement Company of Sigus, subsidiary of GICA.
The CEO of the cement plant, Zoubir Bechiri, emphasizes that the construction progress according to “the contract deadlines signed with the French subsidiary of the German group ThyssenKrupp AG, to provide a turnkey production line, thru the subcontracting entrusted to the Chinese MCC “.
Endowed with an investment of 51 billion dinars, about 415 million euros, the thirteenth cement plant of GICA, will allow the group to reach its objectives of production of 20 million tons of cement in 2020.
The new cement plant located near the limestone quarry at Djebel El Fortas and the Koudiet Birou clay quarry from which the raw materials are extracted, allows the cement plant to have access to the entire production line, including a cooking line including a five-stage double-column preheating tower, a rotary kiln with three supports and a clinker cooler.
The plant also has four cement storage silos with a total capacity of 80,000 tonnes, two clinker storage silos with a total capacity of 60,000 tonnes, and a bagging station. a capacity of 3000 bags per hour.
The senior executives of the company, including the chief financial officer and the technical director, Bensassi Sofiane and Layadi Nabil respectively, point out that the raw material needed to launch production is already produced and stored, ie nearly 2 million tonnes of limestone, in addition to quantities of clinker conveyed from the Tebessa cement plant in particular, with a view to starting cement production as early as the first quarter of 2019, pending the completion of the installation of the preheating tower which will enable the plant to dispose of its own clinker as early as the second half of next year.
Apart from the technical details of the project and the details on the time of entry of the production line, the managers of the plant want to clarify some elements that have been reported in the press about the outsourcing that would have been entrusted in “second hand” in particular to the Chinese CMM, as well as on the non-participation of the national companies in the project.
On the first point, the CEO of the Sigus cement plant, Mr. Bechiri, points out – a copy of the contract 13th notebook – that “all the subcontractors currently in charge of a module of the construction of the factory , or the supply of equipment necessary for the production line, have clearly stated in the contract and validated by the developer “.
“No subcontractor was chosen unilaterally, or after, by the consulting firm.” Regarding the participation of local companies in the project, Bachiri cites in particular “la Société de maintenance de l’Est” (SME) subsidiary of GICA.
A company born in 1990, which currently provides, in total autonomy, the maintenance of all GICA cement plants, in addition to interventions with private operators and which manufactures many modules necessary for cement plants, including “the pox” , key piece for cooking ovens. The SME has been “well and truly associated”, according to its director, Kitouni Rezki, to the project under the contract signed between GICA and the German ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions.
El Watan
26/12/2018
[Automated translation]