Gharibwal Cement (GWLC) has announced its intentions to expand its production capacity by 8,000 TPD, translating into 2.4 million tons of annual additional clinker production capacity. According to a notice sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, foreseeing the substantial growth in domestic market in coming years due to CPEC and higher PSDP allocation, Board of Directors of Gharibwal Cement in its meeting held on August 18, 2016 approved the expansion project of clinker production capacity of the plant by 8,000 PTD.
Along with the brown field expansion, the company will also install a waste heat recovery (WHR) and cement mill for this purpose. Work on this project will start during the current fiscal year. GWLC has also announced contract to install vertical grinding mill with a capacity of 250TPH at the plant, which will increase cement grinding capacity substantially. This should also result in increased efficiency for the company as traditional ball mill consumes larger units of electricity as compared to vertical grinding mill. It is likely to be operated by June 30, 2017.
Analysts said that with GWLC's announcement, it becomes the sixth cement manufacturer to jump into expansion bandwagon, taking potential incremental capacity addition to 13 million tons (30 percent of pre-expansion installed capacity). "We believe that other players operating in the North region such as Maple Leaf Cement (MLCF) and Kohat Cement (KOHC) will also follow and join the expansion cycle as they have the required balance sheet strength for it", they added.