KUCHING: Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMS) will raise cement production capacity by almost 60% to 2.75 million tonnes per annum when its third grinding plant, currently being built, is commissioned in the first quarter of 2016.
Group managing director Datuk Richard Curtis said the proposed RM190mil plant project located adjacent to the group’s clinker plant in Mambong, Penrissen Road near here was progressing well, with trial production scheduled by end-2015.
“With cement demand in Sarawak growing at between 3% and 4% per annum, we estimate that with increased production capacity, we will be able to meet the demand at least in the next 10 years,” he said after the company AGM here.
CMS, Sarawak’s sole cement manufacturer, now owns and operates two cement plants with annual combined rated production capacity of 1.75 million tonnes.
Between 2010 and 2014, the Kuching and Bintulu plants registered a combined average utilisation factor of 85%.
Curtis said the company would invest another RM17mil this year to enhance its cement distribution capabilities.
The allocation is largely for upgrading works for the main jetty here to improve the handling of the import of raw materials and export of bulk and bag cement.
He said CMS had invested some RM78mil in the clinker plant to raise its production capacity by 10% to 900,000 tonnes per annum. The plant is able to meet up to 85% of the clinker demand from the Kuching cement plant.
Following modifications made to the clinker plant, Curtis said it now ran on cheaper locally-mined coal of lower calorific value.
“We are now sourcing coal from Mukah and have stopped importing coal from Indonesia,” he added.
CMS, which now owns eight premix plants in several towns, will further expand the production capacity to meet the increasing marlet demand.
According to Curtin, the company will purchase two mobile premix plants with 150 tonnes per hour capacity to bring the operations closer to project sites.
The eight existing premix plants have a combined rated capacity of 1,440 tonnes per hour.
CMS also owns a 15-tonne per hour bitumen emulsion plant here that manufactures cutback bitumen products besides bitumen emulsion. The group now commands 67% of Sarawak’s high quality premix and bitumen emusion market.
Curtis said the group’s quarry operations would further raise the production capacity of granite, microtonalite and limestone aggregates to gear up for potential demand growth linked to the planned RM27bil extension projects for the 1,663km Pan Borneo Highway.
“We are interested to participate in the Pan Borneo Highway project,” he said, adding that the group was eyeing road construction packages and the supply of construction materials.
He said CMS had embarked on studies to identify potential quarries in northern Sarawak, and that additional wharf facilities in Kuching area were being developed to improve the company’s ability to transport stone aggregates over long distances more competitively.
The company has a 35% market share in stone aggregates in Sarawak.
Under two long-term road concessions, CMS is carrying out maintenance of some 680km of federal roads and 5,400km of state roads in Sarawak.
Curtis said with a cash pile of some RM800mil, CMS would continue to focus its investment in energy-intensive industries and infrastructure-related projects.
