JP Associates to invest Rs 4,500-cr in cement project

Jaypee Group firm Jaiprakash (JP) Associates today said it will invest Rs 4,500 crore to take its cement manufacturing capacity from 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 33 mtpa by 2012.

The company's current capacity is 15 mtpa that will go up to 20 mtpa in the next 2-3 months for which most of the investments have been made.

"We currently have a capacity of 15 mtpa...The total capacity will reach from 20 mtpa in March 2010 to 33 mtpa by March 2012 at a cost of Rs 4,500 crore," Jaiprakash Associates Chief Financial Officer Rahul Kumar told reporters here.

"Part of the Rs 4,500 crore investment has already been made to augment the capacity," Kumar said.

Additional funds would be raised to meet the capacity targets, he said, without giving specifics.

The company's first joint-venture cement plant with Steel Authority of India will be commissioned by March with a capacity of 2.2 mtpa. Its second JV plant with the steel major would be operational by July 2011 in Bokaro in Jharkhand with capacity of 2.1 mtpa.

The other cement plants by the company are coming up in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.