Sinoma International Engineering Co., Ltd announced that its subsidiary Chengdu Design & Research Institute of Building Materials Industry Co., Ltd. (CDI) signed a €1.05bn contract with the Egyptian government on Sunday.
According to the turnkey contract, six clinker cement production lines with 6,000 tonnes of daily capacity for the equipment bureau of the Ministry of Defence and Military Production will be supplied, designed, constructed, installed, and maintained by the CDI.
Egypt is one of the top cement producers with a total production capacity of 70 million tonnes of clinker. Egypt’s cement consumption is estimated at 52 million to 54 million tonnes per year. The cement industry now accounts for around 3.7% of GDP.
This new project will launch in Beni Suef. The cement production line will include camp construction, a mining platform, and a mining crusher plant, according to the statement.
The contract period for the operation and maintenance of the six production lines is three years. The new production line is to begin pilot production in December 2017.
Half of the total contract’s amount of €1.05bn (including financial costs), which made up about 34.72% of the CDI’s revenue in 2015, will be paid in euros and half in Egyptian pounds, according to the exchange rate announced by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
15% of the contract’s value (excluding financial costs) will be paid in advance, while the rest of the contract amount will be paid in annual instalments over 11 years. The Ministry of Defence will provide a letter of guarantee of payment.
Sinoma International became the first Chinese contractor in Egypt’s engineering and construction industry after signing a contract for two 5,000 tonnes per day cement production lines in the Sinai Peninsula with the Department of Defence on 24 June 2007.
Sinoma said in a statement that the project will help it further explore the overseas market of cement project equipments and the contract does not affect independence of the Sinoma’s major business.
