In an effort to fill demand, Alkhalij Cement Company intends investing nearly QAR 800 million on a new production line.

Part of Qatari Investors Group, Alkhalij Cement Company intends to keep up with the growing demand for cement, an official said.

The country s construction market is putting strain on cement supply and Firas Tayssir Ibrahim, chief administration officer of Qatari Investors Group, said the new line is expected to be operational by the first quarter of 2016.

This is anticipated to increase cement production by 50% and doubling clinker production.

Ibrahim s statement was underscored by Alkhalij Cement Company chief operations officer Jose Escalera who emphasised the extraordinary growth in the country s construction sector:

"The unprecedented growth in Qatar s construction remains as the primary motive of all companies to place more efforts in improving their products and services to meet the terms of this growth and support it with emphasis on quality and effectiveness factors.

"This has prompted Alkhalij Cement Company to increase its production capacity to cope with the increasing market demands. While the production of clinker will reach around 2mn tonnes and cement around 3mn tonnes by the end of 2015, our projections show that in 2016 and when our new line is operational, we will need to produce close to 4mn tonnes of clinker and 4.5mn tonnes of cement," Escalera explained.

Speaking at a training workshop for customers, Ibrahim said Alkhalij Cement has organised the event in collaboration with Grey Matters, "to support key and mega projects in Qatar through learning, knowledge sharing, supporting, networking, and humanisation."

Both technical and specialised personnel from the concrete and construction sectors attended the workshop which was intended to inform on quality and effective use of cement and concrete products.

"This workshop comes within the framework of the educational strategy the company has adopted to facilitate advancement of the experience of its customers in order to achieve higher effectiveness and quality in the use of cement and concrete," Ibrahim said.

Rabih Fakih, managing director of Grey Matters and workshop facilitator, said: "The importance of this co-operation between Grey Matters and Alkhalij Cement is to emphasise the educational and awareness aspects of the company s clients and employees to optimise the usage of the products and realise quality."