Maple Leaf stops construction at expansion project

KARACHI: On the orders of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Maple Leaf Cement Factory (Ltd) has stopped construction work at its ongoing expansion project, according to a company notice sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday.

However, the company said that it would challenge the decision in Lahore High Court where it was expecting a positive outcome. The company claimed that it had met all the statutory obligations before starting the expansion project.

Maple Leaf was pursuing capacity enhancement of 7,300 tons per day.



The company's 2.2 million tons per annum of capacity expansion was planned for an investment of $220 million. This brought down the company's share price to Rs68.44, down 3.34% on a day when the KSE-100 index added 100 points to close at 40,471 points.

The company announced in August this year that it had decided to raise Rs4.28 billion from the PSX to partially finance the cost of an additional dry process clinker production line.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2017.

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