CCCL plans $6b Rockfort plant upgrade
Published:Friday | August 26, 2022 | 12:06 AM
Caribbean Cement Company Limited (CCCL), through its parent company CEMEX, will be investing $6 billion (US$40 million) to upgrade and increase the capacity of its cement production plant in Rockfort, Kingston, by up to 30 per cent.
The expansion is aimed at strengthening the self-sufficiency of the local cement industry, reducing dependency on cement imports, and reinforcing the company’s ability to serve the growth of the construction sector in Jamaica and the Caribbean.
The expansion will also introduce novel grinding additives to the manufacturing process and further enhance the production of low clinker products in the region.
Speaking Wednesday at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Kiln-5 expansion project at the cement company’s packing plant in Rockfort, President of CEMEX South Central America and the Caribbean Jesus Gonzalez Herrera noted that the investment will be the largest that the company has pumped in the country over the last five years.
“The investment represents the first phase of the project that aims to increase the cement production by up to 30 per cent in the coming years,” he said.
At present, he said the company is in the final stage of its engineering phase and obtaining permits from the relevant authorities for the 18-24-month project, which is expected to start later this year.
“Very soon we will begin to procure the equipment needed for the initial phase of this project that will not only expand our capacity but also allow us to optimise our heat consumption in the manufacturing process and, therefore, reduce the carbon footprint of our facility in Jamaica,” Herrera added while emphasising CEMEX’s commitment to Jamaica.
He also pointed out that the project is aligned with the company’s goal to reduce its carbon emission, thereby minimising its carbon footprint in the country.
“Under our Future in Action Programme, we have set a target of 40 per cent reduction in CO2 by 2030. Our goal is to become a truly net-zero company by 2050,” he shared.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Andrew Holness in welcoming the investment and expansion project lauded the company for doing its part to address the global climate crisis.
“This expansion project valued at US$40 million will increase CCCL’s production by approximately 30 per cent, that is by 300,000 metric tonnes, that is significant.
“The expansion is a very positive development for our country and will strengthen the self-sufficiency of our national cement industry. It will reduce dependency on cement import, allow for exports if our local demands are not met, and reinforce our ability to serve the growth of the construction sector in Jamaica and the Caribbean,” Holness said.
THE FOUNDATION
While noting that all infrastructural developments across the various sectors rely on the production of cement, the prime minister further emphasised that the expansion of the production capacity is very “significant and important to Jamaica’s economic growth strategy”.
Furthermore, he said “Cement is the foundation of the construction industry which is vital to generating the growth and the jobs which we are now seeing.”
Currently, CCCL supplies more than one million metric tonnes of cement to Jamaica.
In the meantime, the cement company also used the occasion to officially unveil its ‘RE-Ignited For Unity mural, painted on one of the company’s silos.
Holness, in unveiling Jamaica’s biggest and tallest mural, said that the painting symbolises the strong bond of friendship between Mexico and Jamaica.
“We see these as a catalyst for positive social, cultural and economic change in our communities and they are also a positive catalyst for our mental health. I am certain as you come along this corridor which we consider to be the welcome to Kingston corridor and you see the mural, it immediately just elevates your spirit,” he said.