Dalmia Cement is set to start work soon on its proposed cement plants in Karnataka and Meghalaya.

Mr T Venkatesan, who recently took over as deputy MD of Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd said the company's expansion plans, which had been going slow till recently, are set to pick up pace.

Mr Venkatesan said the company will set up two plants in Belgaum and Gulbarga.

Typically, Dalmia Cement envisages an initial capacity of about 2.5 million tonnes year for cement plants. The plants will be operational two years from today.

Dalmia Cement operates a cement production capacity of about 9 million tonnes a year, with two plants in Tamil Nadu 4 million tonnes in Dalmiapuram and 2.5 million tonnes in Ariyalur and 2.5 million tonnes in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh.

In addition, through an associate company, OCL (in which it has a 45% stake), it has an additional 5.3 million tonnes, giving it a total production capacity of 14.3 million tonnes.

The company, which had organised a visit for media persons to its Dalmiapuram factory near Tiruchi, about 300 kilometers south of Chennai, said it has tied up with the Tiruchi Municipality to source non degradable waste to fire its kiln in Dalmiapuram. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement that will help the municipality dispose of waste while saving the company some fuel.

(Sourced from Hindu.com)