IBN, Hongshi to seal deal on Sunday

The Investment Board Nepal (IBN) is planning to sign a project investment agreement (PIA) with Hongshi Shivam Cement on Sunday.
Hongshi Shivam Cement is constructing a cement factory in Nawalparasi at a cost of around Rs 37 billion, which is the largest Chinese investment in domestic cement industry and the second largest after Nigeria’s Dangote Cement, which entered Nepal with a $550-million foreign direct investment (FDI) pledge.
The Nepal-China joint venture company has already started construction of the factory at Sardi in Nawalparasi. "It has currently employed 500-600 Nepalis and 500-600 Chinese workers at the factory site,” according to the Board. "The company will start commercial production by May 2018, if things go according to plan."
The cement factory will have a daily cement production capacity of 6,000 tonnes – some 120,000 bags – according to cement company that is planning to double the production to 12,000 tonnes per day in the next five years.
Hongshi Shivam’s production is also expected to substitute cement import from India.
The company also plans to export cement produced at its plant to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Once the PIA is signed, Hongshi Shivam Cement, despite being a foreign joint venture, will receive the treatment like a domestic company. The PIA will also oblige the government to help the company acquire the land it needs, and build access road and transmission line to the factory and mining sites, according to the Board.
The Board was planning to seal the deal with the Nepal-China joint venture during Chinese vice premier Wang Yang’s visit to Kathmandu. But the visit concluded on Thursday and the agreement could not be signed as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was about to visit India.
The signing of PIA with Hongshi Shivam Cement will be the first signing of mega agreement after the incumbent chief executive officer Maha Prasad Adhikari has been appointed. And it will  be the third major deal that the Board has sealed after its establishment.
Earlier, in 2014, the Board had signed project development agreements with developers of 900-MW Upper Karnali Hydroelectric Project and 900-MW Arun-3 Hydroelectric Project. Both these agreements were signed when Radhesh Pant was the chief executive of the Board. 

Dangote cement seeks help to acquire land, electricity

Dangote Cement has sought government help to acquire land for its $800 million cement industry in Nepal.

In a meeting with finance minister Shankar Prasad Koirala, here at his office today, the Nigerian company's chief executive K R Rao said that the company is looking for the land in Dang, Dhading and Makwanpur districts to establish the cement factory.

Dangote Cement needs 60 megawatt (MW) of electricity for full capacity operation of the plant, he said, asking government's help in providing 30 MW of electricity from the national grid as the company is planning to install Thermal Plant of 30 MW capacity to operate cement industry.

Of the three proposed districts to establish cement industry, Dhading has no bridge to access the industry, Rao added.

Koirala, who is also trade, commerce and supplies minister, said the government has prioritised foreign investment and ready to help promote them. "There will be no scarcity of energy, when the industry will come into operation," the minister added.

The government has also focused on developing infrastructure for the cement industries, he said, asking the Nigerian company to look for more investment potential in Nepal.

The Nigerian company – Dangote Group – had applied to the Investment Board with a $800 million cement factory proposal in Nepal. The board had on February 13 accepted the company’s foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal. The Cabinet had also endorsed the Dangote Group – one of Nigeria’s most diversified business conglomerates – proposal.

Dangote Group president and chief executive Aliko Dangote has been ranked as the world’s 76th richest person – with a networth of $12billion – by the Forbes magazine. Headquartered in Lagos of Nigeria, the group’s Dangote Cement is the largest cement producer in Africa.