HOLCIM Philippines Inc. on Thursday said it completed the capacity expansion project of its La Union plant two months ahead of schedule.
The cement manufacturer said it finished the installation of the new grinding equipment and storage facilities in its plant in Bacnotan, La Union, last month to increase the annual cement production capacity by 80 percent to around 1.8 million tons.
Holcim President and CEO John Stull said the increased capacity of its La Union plant enabled the company to better support the development of North Luzon.
“This project is proof of our commitment to support our customers as construction activity picks up with the government’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. With our expansion and efficiency initiatives, we can better provide a reliable supply of high-quality cement to help our partners advance the region’s development,” Stull said.
The La Union plant upgrade is part of the first phase of Holcim’s expansion program.
The second phase involves improvements to its Bulacan and Misamis Oriental plants amounting to $300 million to raise the company’s annual cement production capacity by 30 percent to 13 million metric tons by 2020.
Latest government data showed two of the three regions in Northern Luzon outpaced the national economic growth rate in 2017, led by the Cordillera Administrative Region, which topped the other 16 regions and whose construction industry surged by 23.6 percent.