State-run cement producer Semen Indonesia is planning to invest about 300 million USD in building a new plant in Vietnam in the near future as part of its business expansion in Southeast Asian.

Semen Indonesia General Director Dwi Soetjipto said his company hopes to expand the production capacity of its Vietnamese subsidiary, Thang Long Cement Company (TLCC), by setting up a new plant with a total production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of cement per year.

The plant’s construction is scheduled to be started in early 2015 and it is expected to be put into operation in three years later.

TLCC’s current production capacity stands at 2.5 million tonnes per year ,Soetjipto said, therefore the building of a factory in Vietnam is necessary for Semen Indonesia to meet the increasing demand of cement in Vietnam and other Asian countries, such as Singapore, Cambodia , Laos and Myanmar.

Semen Indonesia has now acquired 70 percent of TLCC’s shares. It has set a target of becoming one of the leading cement producers in Southeast Asia.-VNA