Holcim invests US$10 mn for expansion

Shirajiv Sirimane

INVESTMENT: Holcim Lanka will invest US$ 10 million to construct a grinding station in Trincomalee.

Managing Director and CEO, Peter Spirig at the launch of Holcim web sale facility for their customers said they hope to start construction next year.

He said that the present cycle of violence in the North-East would not have any negative impact for their investment plans. "Though there is violence, life has to go on," he said. "This is a clear statement of our commitment to Sri Lanka," he said.

Spirig said that the Sri Lankan cement market has a 7 percent growth and he expects this to increase. He said that this plant would help to increase their production as the demand for their products too are on the rise.

"This was one reason for them to introduce web marketing," he said. Web marketing is a tool with a tremendous growth and sales in United Kingdom increased from 20 billion in 2003 to 34 billion in 2004.

Web sales in 2002 were US$ 327 billion. It is also estimated that there were one billion internet users. This e-commerce tool allows Holcim Lanka customers either industrial consumers or distributors, to order cement using the internet while offering a host of other benefits and of raising the standards of the local cement and construction industry.

Holcim Web Sales programme will enable its users to order cement and check the delivery status, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, using the internet from wherever the internet service available.

Through this account, a web sales customer can access more accurate, up-to-date and consistent information, which will allow better business and financial planning.

During the past several years, Holcim Lanka prepared the ground in Sri Lanka for introducing the Holcim web sales programme, which is currently in use in many Holcim Group Companies across the globe. Introduction of this tool to the Sri Lankan cement industry is yet another step forward in Holcim Lankas introduction of international standards.