China's Sinoma wins Saudi cement plant contract
RIYADH, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Private Saudi company Riyadh Cement Co said on Tuesday it had awarded a contract to China's Sinoma International Engineering Co (600970.SS) to double its cement production capacity by the end of 2009.
Sinoma, which has already built the Saudi firm's existing production line, will add a second line to double Riyadh Cement's annual cement production capacity to 4 million tonnes, the Saudi firm said in an emailed statement.
It did not give the value of the deal.
Riyadh Cement started commercial production in the third quarter of 2007 after spending 1.15 billion riyals ($306.7 million) to build the plant, located in the outskirts of the Saudi capital.
German industrial group ThyssenKrupp (TKAG.DE) and Finnish engineering group Wartsila (WRT1V.HE) have also won parts of the first contract, Riyadh cement said.
The announcement of the expansion contract coincides with the expected start later on Tuesday of a two-day state visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to the kingdom, China's top energy supplier.
Sinoma is a subsidiary of China National Materials Co (1893.HK). (Reporting by Souhail Karam, editing by Will Waterman)
