| Lyna Mohamad |
THE launching of the 52.5 Brunei Cement yesterday by the sole local cement producer in the country, Butra HeidelbergCement (BHC) Sdn Bhd marks the expansion of the company’s product line under the Brunei Cement brand.
Held at the Mutiara Ballroom of Radisson Hotel in the capital, the event saw the attendance of Ambassador of Federal Republic of Germany to Brunei Darussalam, Peter Wolff and Legislative Council member YB Ong Tiong Oh.
Launching the new product were Pengiran Anak Haji Ja’afar Ibni Al-Marhum Pengiran Pemancha Pengiran Anak Haji Mohd Alam, a member of BHC’s Board of Directors; Marcelino Ugarte, BHC Managing Director; and Kevin Gluskie, CEO of Asia Pacific HeidelbergCement Group.
Consisting of clinker, gypsum and slag, the 52.5 Brunei Cement is a breakthrough product – the result of innovation from BHC’s production team – which reinforces BHC’s strong commitment in building an avenue for sustainable construction in the country. The addition of slag – a byproduct in steel production – to the 52.5 Brunei Cement also increases the durability of the cement produced. This means that the performance of concrete structures is increased and the amount of repairs needed in concrete maintenance is reduced, ensuring more sustainable buildings.
Currently available in more than 80 per cent of local hardware retail outlets, the introduction of the 52.5 Brunei Cement brand will provide customers with a cement option that provides a variety of concrete application advantages with its superior technical properties compared to other regular cements brands.
“We are grateful to the government of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam for its support and cooperation in helping us thrive and flourish as the only local cement producing company since 1996. We are committed to bring forth more innovative products in the future,” said BHC Managing Director Ugarte in his welcoming remarks.
He added that with the changing market and the growing demand for more quality products to support the local construction industry, the company believes that the launch of the new 52.5 Brunei Cement is timely and will bring positive effects to the construction landscape and beyond.
The new cement improves concrete’s characteristics, improving its workability and cohesiveness, lowers heat of hydration thus reducing surface cracks, as well as increasing its strength and sulphate resistant properties, makes it corrosion resistant, and lowers its alkali content.
These higher sulphate-resistant properties are thus ideal for coastal constructions, while the resultant new concrete’s higher corrosion-resistant properties provide greater protection of embedded steel. Its low alkali content eliminates the risk of alkali-aggregate reaction and reduces the environmental impact of concrete mixture with cement. Following the launching of the 52.5 Brunei Cement, guests were given a presentation on the product by Technical Director and Head of HeidelbergCement Technology Centre, Terence Ong.
“Due to its good durability, long term strength and high resistance to chloride penetration, slag cement is used internationally and its excellent properties make it the perfect choice of cement for large infrastructure projects and projects exposed to seawater environment,” Terence Ong highlighted.
Using the cement, he added, will also “reduce CO2 generation by reducing the amount of clinker incorporation thus helping the environment”. He also pointed out that the new cement has already been used in major constructions worldwide such as the New 7 World Trade Centre in New York and Queen Elizabeth II Bridge M25 in London.
He highlighted that BHC Sdn Bhd takes pride in being the first cement company to develop and introduce the new 52.5 cement in the country, which will appeal to all segments of the local construction market due to its wide range of benefits.
Meanwhile, Ugarte said the cement industry has seen challenging times over the last few years and business has been difficult.
“But as of late there are a few big projects ongoing, which is keeping us busy. We are happy to supply these mega projects as part of our ‘Building a Nation’ campaign, and we are hopeful more investors will come in and bring even more demand and we are more than ready to supply these big projects,” the managing director said.
Touching on BHC’s future plans, he commented that launching the 52.5 cement is a major step for the future. “We think it is a great product for the market and specifically for Brunei. In the future we probably might expand our capacity a little bit or as needed for bigger projects, but right now we don’t see the need for this – currently we are only using 50 per cent of our production capacity,” said Ugarte.
“So we are going to focus on trying to convince the market about our 52.5 cement and hope that they use it more. It is a widely used cement in other countries and it’s just a matter of educating local consumers about it.”
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