The Hindu Business Line : ACC in talks with Japanese co for consultancy assignment

ASSOCIATED Cement Companies (ACC) is at an advanced stage of discussion with a Japanese company Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries Co Ltd (IHI), for partnering them in their cement projects in West Asia.

"We have been consulted for providing support services for engineering consultancy for their cement projects in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates," said a senior ACC official.

Assciated Cement Companies' engineering and project management consultancy services business is slowly increasing in the international arena.

Earlier to this offer from the Japanese company, ACC achieved "another significant breakthrough in overseas consultancy assignments" when it secured a contract for project consultancy from Messrs Longulf Trading of the UK for their proposed 4000 tonnes-per-day greenfield cement plant in Yemen.

ACC has come a long way in consultancy since its first contract of operating and managing Yanbu Cement Company's plant in Saudi Arabia, which is 24 years in the running now, having been renewed continuously every two or three years.

"ACC's aim is to build an image of being a company with world class expertise in project management consultancy," said the official.

ACC had also been operating and managing cement plants in Iraq between 1980 and 1991, till the outbreak of the first Gulf War, said the official.

Last year ACC entered into a consultancy contract with Dangote Industries Ltd of Nigeria for their 3 x 7000 tonnes-per-day cement plants in Nigeria.

The same group also awarded ACC a project consultancy assignment for rehabilitation and activation of their two manufacturing lines of 1500 tpd each and another for the modernisation of 2 x 3500 tpd production lines for the Benue Cement Company Plc last year.

ACC has also completed an assignment in Sudan where it helped stabilise operations of the Atbara cement plant, which was newly acquired from the Sudanese government by Sudanese African Company, a Jeddah-based outfit.