Yesterday in Rome, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Cementir Italia (Cementir Holding Group) signed a EUR 90 million loan to finance the comprehensive upgrading of the company’s Taranto cement plant.
This project meets a number of the EIB’s customary financing criteria such as protecting the environment and fostering the development of the EU’s less favoured regions to bring them up to speed with other parts of the Union.
The existing production lines will be replaced with state-of-the-art equipment resulting in efficiency improvements and environmental benefits including the reduction of energy consumption and atmospheric pollution.
In technical terms, this overhaul will bring energy savings of 26% per product unit (equivalent to around 31 ktep per annum) and an approximately 9% reduction in CO2 emissions per tonne of clinker produced.
Listed on the Milan stock exchange, Cementir Holding manufactures and distributes white and grey cement, aggregates, ready-mix concrete and concrete products throughout the world. With plants in 13 countries and around 3 300 employees, it is a world leader in white cement production.
The EIB has a strong record of supporting the cement industry in Italy. In fact, one of its first operations in this sector was a EUR 6.4 million loan to finance the construction of Cementir’s Taranto plant back in 1963.