Premier Cement to get Tk 350cr loan from Idcol

Premier Cement PLC will get a Tk 350 crore long-term loan for expanding production at two new units.

Infrastructure Development Company Limited (Idcol) is providing the loan.

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An agreement was signed between Idcol and Premier Cement to this end at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka yesterday.

"We have already started production at the two units in Narayanganj and Chattogram involving Tk 1,300 crore," said Mohammed Amirul Haque, managing director of Premier Cement.

Of the total investment, the company spent Tk 800 crore for establishing the Narayanganj unit and Tk 500 crore for the Chattogram unit.

Standard Chartered Bank, Pubali Bank and City Bank provided 70 per cent of the cost as loans while a Danish bank gave another $35 million, or Tk 280 crore, for the purchase of capital machinery.

Haque said they will repay the earlier loans with the funds from Idcol as they were short-term financing.

"We will get time of 10 years to repay the Idcol loan as the state-owned lender provides such facilities for green factories," he added.

Haque claims the expansion in their annual output from 2.4 to 5.2 million tonnes is a record for a single entity in the country.

Idcol is providing long-term financing to expand the capacity of Premier Cement through a vertical roller mill (VRM).

Premier Cement has increased its capacity at the existing ball mill facility to 19,040 tonnes per day from 8,000 tonnes previously by adding the VRM.

The new VRM unit began commercial operation in July 2022.