Private sector invited to invest in cement industryOld oil technology to be replaced [Archives:2004/792/Business & Economy]

Mahyoub Al-Kamaly
Technical teams affiliated with Aden Oil Refinery have completed procedures for the beginning of a project to replace the old pipeline linking the Aden Refinery to Haswa Thermoelectricity Station and Aden Administration of Ship Supply.
A report issued by production marketing administration at the refinery said that the project, expected to be finished at the end of the next year, includes in its first phase the building of a pipeline for pumping refined oil products.
The line is composed of two pipelines; one is 16-inch diameter for pumping and carrying mazut from Aden Refinery and to Aden administration for the supply of ships. The second pipeline is 6-inch diameter for carrying and pumping diesel to the Hawa thermoelectricity station.
The report also mentions that the work in building the two pipelines would be at a speed of 50 meters per 48 hours, while the distance between the refinery and the thermoelectricity station is 7 km.
The project is one of the vital strategic projects the Aden refinery is executing under self-funding and the participation of a number of Arab experts under chairmanship of a Romanian expert.
He is director of a project for development of the refinery storages, whose capacity of storing local and external oil products has reached more than 135,000 cubic meters.
The pipelines that are going to be replaced were built when the refinery was built in 1952.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni Establishment for Cement Industry and Marketing is seeking to increase its production through investment via self- financing in modernization and development of the existing factories and calling on the private sector for investment in them.
Among plans are for capacity of Amran cement plant to reach 600,000 tons a year and the establishment of a new production line with a capacity of 1.2 million tons per year starting from the year 2006.
With this the factory's total production capacity would be increased to 1.6 million tons.
It's hoped with improvements, that the production capacity of Bajil cement factory will reach 1.1 million tons. It is also expected that the project could be implemented by beginning of 2007.
An official report mentioned that there are now arrangements underway to resume a tender for the building of a power station at al-Barah factory generating 200 megawatts, as well as increasing the factory's production capacity from 500 thousand tons to 750 thousand tons.
The report indicated that the existing production lines at the three cement factories have surpassed their designed production capacity.
Presently the total production of the three factories affiliate of the cement establishment is 1.54 million tons. It is also expected that the public sector factories' production would be increased by the year 2007 in a manner to still cover local demand, while the other proportion would be helped by private sector factories and investments.
Other cement factories are to be built such as Mukala factory with production capacity of 1.2 million tons a year, Batis Abyan cement factory project, implemented by the Yemeni-Saudi for cement company with a production capacity of one million tons in addition to the Lahj cement factory at a production capacity of 1.1 million tons a year.
According to the working plans and programs, the production capacity of the national cement industry would reach 6.7 million tons; three millions contribution by the public sector and 2.5 million tons by the private sector.
Investment sources affirm that investment in the cement sector is tempting for local and foreign capitalists, according to prospects of feasibility studies on building such factories due to the availability of raw material for the cement industry in Yemen.
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