10 December 2020 02:27 am
Ports and Shipping Minister Rohitha Abeygunwardena and Aviation and Export Zones Development State Minister D.V. Chanaka along with Lanwa Sanstha Cement Corporation (Pvt.) Ltd Chairman Nandana Lokuwithana during a visit to the factory nearing completion
Factory nearing completion
by 1.2mn MT
State-of-the-art cement manufacturing facility Lanwa Sanstha Cement Corporation (Pvt.) Ltd, which is slated to be one of the largest in the region, is scheduled for commissioning in June 2021.
The facility spreads across 63 acres in the Mirijjawila Export Processing
Zone, Hambantota.
A BOI venture, the investment for Phase 1 of the project was US $ 70 million and the production capacity of the same is estimated to be 2.4 million MT per annum. In the second phase, a further investment of US $ 10 million will be infused to the project, whereby the production capacity will expand by another 1.2 million MT. One of the highlights of the facility would be the emphasis on the latest technology, where all mixing will be carried out with the latest German-made Gebr Pfeiffer machinery, while many of the other equipment used throughout the production process have been customised by the world-renowned pioneer in innovation, Siemens. Packaging is done using FLSmidth state-of-the-art technology for improved efficiency and minimal wastage. Lanwa Sanstha Cement Chairman Nandana Lokuwithana said, “This facility will serve to benefit the construction industry tremendously by delivering products of premium quality to the market. The plant is the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, utilising cutting-edge European technology to yield optimum outcomes while being environmentally conscious through continuous monitoring.” The manufacturing facility features a fully-automated stacker reclaimer yard and two bridge type ship unloaders, a breakthrough in cargo handling shifting from labour-intensive to tech-oriented aligning local industry with global trends. Lanwa Sanstha Cement will have a storage capacity equivalent of three cargo ships and an impressive 2.4km covered conveyer belt for transportation of raw materials from the port to plant, with increased efficiency, no wastage and zero pollution, which sets the precedent for other enterprises too in manufacturing to preserve nature by working smarter. All these features are new to Sri Lanka and only available at a handful such facilities regionally. Lanwa Sanstha Cement is expected to meet the requirements of all major construction projects locally, including Port City and expressways once commissioned, manufacturing the entire gamut of blended cement products, including ordinary portland cement (OPC), portland slag cement (PSC) and portland limestone cement (PLC). Lanwa Sanstha Cement (Pvt.) Limited is a sister company of Sri Lanka’s foremost manufacturer of steel, Ceylon Steel Corporation Limited, which manufactures a host of products, including QT bars, hot dipped galvanised pipes (GI pipes), BOX bars, round tubes, wire nails, MS rods, purlins and meshes under the ‘Lanwa’ brand. Lokuwithana also heads the Onyx group in the UAE, Marriot Al Jadaf Hotel in Dubai, Marangoni Industrial Tyres Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd and Rigid Tyre Corporation (Pvt.) Ltd in Horana, of which Phase I is due for completion in January 2021.