The greenfield project has the locational advantage of being situated in the midst of rich limestone deposits. Moreover, it is a mere 20 km away from captive lignite mines and is just 10 km away from its captive jetty. The project has, however, been embroiled in one controversy after another, situated as it is near the Chinkara wildlife sanctuary.

Having got environmental and other clearances, SIL is now hopeful of commissioning the plant within a couple of months.

SIL president (cement division) HR Pandey is confident that the use of lignite as a fuel in the captive power plant would make Sanghi one of the lowest cost producers of cement in the country. The power consumption is going to be 50-60 units per tonne.

Similarly, he said, the limestone deposits in Kutch district were not only abundantly available but were also very soft, which rendered drilling unnecessary.

State-of-the-art quality control systems have already been installed at the plant for preparation, transportation and flow control, right from the raw material stage to the finished stage.

The plant is connected to its captive port by a 10-km long conveyor belt, equipped with totally automated state-of-the-art packers and ship loaders with a capacity of 40,000 tpd of clinker, 40,000 tpd bulk cement and 10,000 tpd bagged cement -- with the choice of supplying it to customers in bulk, drums, HDPE, PP or paper bags.