Dang: Ghorahi Cement Udhyog has planned to start production on April 25. According to factory officials, construction is at the final stages, and they believe that the factory can come online within a month.

Construction of the Laxmipur-based factory started two years ago, and was initially planned for a January launch. Factory officials said they missed the target due to load-shedding and various other problems. They added that about 200 workers are working hard to complete construction of the factory.

Ghorahi Cement has planned to manufacture both clinker and cement. “Cement will be manufactured as per market demand,” said K Aru Mugam, in-charge of the factory. “In the case of clinker, we have planned to manufacture 1,200 tonnes daily initially and increase production to 2,000 tonnes daily,” he said. He added they aimed to substitute cement imports from India.

According Mugam, the factory has a total capacity of producing 750 tonnes of cement. As limestone is available locally some 24 km north of the factory site, Mugam believes that they can get 90 percent of their requirement of raw materials in the country.

Aditya Sanghai, director of the company said a total of Rs 5 billion has been invested in the factory. The Triveni and Bishal groups have invested 30 percent from their own resources and put together the rest with loans from 13 banks.

The cement factory is spread over an area of 90 bighas. The factory grounds can accommodate up to 600 trucks at a time for loading and unloading. Similarly, up to 300 workers will be employed at the factory.

“It will help create employment even at the local level,” said Sanghai. According to him, Nepalis will be employed to fill 70 percent of the posts in the production department. “Currently, about 75 percent of the workers are Indian. However, we will train local people to work in the factory.”

Sanghai said that the factory would be equipped with a pollution reduction system which will reuse the gases released in the production process. “We have made a system under which all the gases will be reused in the production process,” said Sanghai. He claimed that the factory was equipped with machinery imported from Germany and that it was of European standard.

Attracted by the immense limestone deposits in Dang district’s northern hilly areas, four cement factories including Ghorahi have been set up in Dang and Rolpa.

Dang Cement has established its factory in Hapure of Purandhara while Sonapur Cement is constructing its production plant in Dudhrash. Similarly, Rolpa Cement is stationed in Budhagaun, Kaulechaur of Rolpa district while it will depend on limestone brought from Dang. Among them, Ghorahi Cement has the largest production capacity.

source: The Kathmandu Post,1 March 2012