Meghalaya govt needs to pump in Rs 50 cr into its cement co

Meghalaya government's only cement company, Mawluh Cherra Cements Ltd, needs a financial assistance of Rs 50 crore to ensure smooth production from April 2015, a report tabled in the Assembly said today.
"Requests have been made to the government for financial assistance of Rs 12 crore immediately as unsecured loan for disbursement of salaries and wages to the employees and Rs 39.9 crore as equity to overcome the present critical condition," said the report.
The report was prepared by the Committee on Public Undertakings on the functioning of the company and tabled by former chief minister and state planning board Chairman S C Marak.

The equity part included Rs 20 crore for part payment to sundry creditors, Rs 16.9 crore for repayment of a term loan availed from UCO Bank and Rs 3 crore for minimum liquidity of coal, it said.
The plant, which went into commercial production in 1966 using the wet process, has outlived its normal life and the production was dismal after which a dry process plant was planned in 2006, which is expected to begin production early next year.
Another problem that has badly hit the cement plant was the ban on mining and transportation of coal by the National Green Tribunal in April this year.

The ban has been a severe blow to the company and with the depletion of stock, the company came to a halt since August last, MCCL Managing Director Sanjay Goyal said.

At present, the company is compelled to procure coal from alternative sources outside the state, he said.
In the past decade, the company has been able to make profit till 2006-2007 with production of about one lakh MT annually. From then, the production has gone down to 70,000 MT accumulating a loss of over Rs 1 crore annually.
The Committee has, however, recommended completion of the new dry process plant within this year to ensure commissioning of the plant by 2015.