Maintenance: Dungsam Cement Corporation Limited (DCCL) in Nganglam might shut down from end of July until mid August for technical problems.

Three machine parts have been causing constant problems, affecting the cement production.

DCCL’s managing director, Dorji Norbu, said that parts are not broken but are giving constant problems frequently.

“The parts – rotary air lock, bag houses fan impellers, and preheater fan impellers – will have to be replaced,” said Dorji Norbu.

Dorji Norbu said that installation required is an expensive affair, especially for the bag house fan impellers and preheater fan impellers, which is why DCCL has decided to shut down for some time. “But we have plans to stock the cement to be supplied. But the stock could exhaust after sometime.”

The plant’s cement dispatch is at 1,500MT (40 percent) per day because of the constant problems at the plant.

After DCCL hit a deal with L&T, the largest consumer of Dungsam Cement, DCCL has been supplying approximately 300 metric tonnes of cement a day.  The plant has supplied about 5,000 metric tonnes of cement to the L&T.

Although the plant produces only about 1,500 metric tonnes of cement in a day, and that the total requirement of Punatsangchu I and II and Mangdechu Project is 1,300 metric tonnes in a day, Dorji Norbu said that DCCL has the capacity to meet the demands of L&T’s and demands of all other hydropower projects in Bhutan.

Record with the plant shows that a total of 217,593.20 metric tonnes of cement was sold form January to June this year, which translates to earning of about Nu 1,169,202,142. In 2014, the plant sold 64,561.78 metric tonnes of cement worth about Nu 319,358,889.

“It will be difficult to make profit this year, but our aim is to reduce loss,” Dorji Norbu.

Yangchen C Rinzin, Nganglam