High-grade Cement:

Profile: As the momentum of development surges into high gear, UD Group wishes to be in the forefront of the Indian Cement industry, which is gearing up to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Products: Fly ash-based PPC (Portland Pozzolana) cement & OPC (Ordinary Portland) cement.

Technology: The plant will feature state-of-the-art “dry process” pre-calcinations technology. Main equipments such as Crushing Plant, Raw Mill, Pre-heater with Calciner, Rotary Kiln, Cement Mill and Packing Plant are being supplied by leading manufacturers such as L&T, WIL, BHEL, ELECON and THERMAX. The uniqueness of this plant is that till date it is the only cement plant in the Northeast executed on turnkey basis.

Quality Control: The plant is fully automated: controlled by computerized systems and PLCs. Exhaustive process instrumentation has been provided at every stage to ensure highest quality at every stage of manufacturing process. Modern laboratories with highly sophisticated testing equipments provide continuous back-up. Packing of cement will be by done by highly accurate electronically controlled online weighing rotary packer machines. Captive Power Plant will ensure quality power availability. Since coal is locally available, there will be the added advantage of generating power at low cost. Last but not the least, highly qualified and experienced manpower has been engaged at the plant to support the state-of-the art technology.

Key Features:

Plant Location: Wahajer village in the Jaintia Hills District in Meghalaya — 125km from the state capital Shillong on National Highway 44.

Benefit: This is an industrially backward area and the plant will boost development of entire Meghalaya and Khliehriat.

Area: Total plant area is approximately 400 acres.

Capacity: Half a million tonnes per annum; Expected to expand to 2 million TPA by next two years. Raw material Resources (backward Integration): Captive mines of Lime stone quarries are located within 0.5km to 3km of the plant. The high-grade lime stone will be mined by open cast mechanized mining method and brought to the crushing plant by dumpers. Most other additives are also available within JUD’s own mines. Mills scale (Iron) will be sourced from Byrnihat/Guwahati areas, from the steel mills. However, quantity of mills scale is negligible compared with the total requirement of raw material.

Advantage: Since lime stone is the main raw material of cement and coal is the main provider of fuel, the proximity of both to the plant will have a distinct advantage of low cost of manufacture.

Expansion Plan: Currently the cement industry in this region has a capacity of about 3 million TPA, while current demand stands at almost 4 million TPA. The demand ratio is expected to grow at a minimum rate of 8 per cent annually along with GDP growth. Add to this the nation’s massive infrastructure building programme, which will not only aid consumption of cement but will allow marketing and distribution far beyond the boundaries of the region. The market would continue to expand for many years to come.