The local Al-Omran Cement Company is evaluating bids from contractors for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build a new $350m cement plant at Taif in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia.

The plant will have a capacity of 7,500 tonnes a day when completed in 2014. The product mix will be split between 6,000 t/d of grey cement and 1,500 t/d of higher-value white cement.

Al-Omran is expected to announce the winning bidder in September and work should take about 20 months to complete.

The companies bidding to be awarded the contract are:

• A-TEC Industries (Austria)
• China National Building Material Group Corporation (China)
• FLSmidth (Denmark)
• Polysius (Germany)
• Sinoma (Suzhou) Construction Company (China)

The scope of works includes the construction of crushers, preheaters, silos, kilns, cement mills and a power plant.

Saudi Arabia’s cement industry is one of the strongest in the region due to government subsidies and demand. MEED reported in May that increased construction activity, driven by an urgent need for new housing and improved infrastructure, resulted in cement demand in Saudi Arabia increasing by 10.9 per cent year-on-year in 2011  

The Middle East projects tracker MEED Projects states that there are more than $1.1bn-worth of cement projects at the design, tender or execution stage in Saudi Arabia.