Star Cement's Rs 450 crore Bengal plant ready, to start ops soon: MD

Century Plyboards India-promotedStar Cements two-million-tonne greenfield cement plant inWest Bengal is ready and commercial production will beginsoon, a top company official said on Sunday.The Rs 450 crore grinding unit has been set up inJalpaiguri district in north Bengal.The project is undergoing trials and can beginproduction anytime soon.

Century Plyboards India-promotedStar Cement's two-million-tonne greenfield cement plant inWest Bengal is ready and commercial production will beginsoon, a top company official said on Sunday.

The Rs 450 crore grinding unit has been set up inJalpaiguri district in north Bengal.

''The project is undergoing trials and can beginproduction anytime soon. This is our first greenfield cementproject in West Bengal though we have plyboard manufacturingthrough Century Plyboards,'' Star Cement Managing DirectorSanjay Agarwal told PTI.

''We will invite Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee toinaugurate the project. We received all-round support from thestate government and the project was executed smoothly,'' hesaid.

The state government has provided nine acres of thearound 45 acres of land on which the plant is built.

Star Cement currently has a manufacturing capacity of4.3 million tonne, which would go up to 6.3 million tonneafter production begins at the new facility. The company has aclinker capacity of 2.8 million tonne and 51 mw of captivepower.

The company will source clinkers from its integratedcement plant in Meghalaya that has mines nearby. Fly ash willbe procured from West Bengal or Bihar.

Star Cement is a major cement player in theNortheastern states and with the new greenfield plant inJalpaiguri, the company is eyeing the north Bengal market,besides Bihar.

The company has been producing some cement in Siliguriby way of lease a grinding unit, which will be discontinued inJanuary-end, Agarwal said.

Amid the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic,Agarwal said he was optimistic about the long-term prospectsof the cement market in eastern India, which is at 20-25million tonne and expected to grow by 8-9 per cent.