ACC majority shareholder Egypt's Orascom Construction Industriessays the venture is seeking $156 million in debt, which will directly finance 60 per cent of the investment required for the plant. Citibankis putting the financing package together. Discussions have been held with Citibank Algeria, the International Finance Corporation, the European Investment Bank, the African Development Bank and French agency Proparco about participating in the transaction. Much of the debt will be denominated in Algerian dinars, to match ACC's future revenues.

The plant is scheduled to start up in 2004, with a capacity of 2 million tonnes a year of cement.