Siam Cement Group, the country's largest industrial conglomerate, foresees a brighter outlook for its projects in the Map Ta Phut area following the Central Administrative Court's nod for six SCG projects to resume construction work.
President and CEO Kan Trakulhoon yesterday said the company was confident that the projects approved by the Central Administrative Court a few weeks ago would operate smoothly in compliance with constitutional law.
The court verdict also boosts the confidence of SCG's foreign partners, including Dow Chemicals and Mitsui Chemicals.
Kan recently met top executives of Dow Chemicals and informed them about the progress of the suspended projects.
"The construction work on the six projects will be completed next year. After that the environmental-impact assessment and health-impact assessment will be completed. So, our projects will operate in compliance with constitutional law," he said.
The six SCG projects allowed to resume construction include the production-capacity expansion phase of Siam Polyethylene, the plastic-pellet production project of Thai Polyethylene and the methyl-methacrylate production project of Thai MMA.
"I have to thank the Central Administrative Court for allowing our projects to resume construction," he said.
Kan added that despite the bright outlook for the projects in the Map Ta Phut area and the continuous recovery in the construction industry since the last quarter of 2009, SCG forecast demand growth for cement at not less than 5 per cent this year.
Pichit Maipoom, president of SCG Building Materials, said the revenue growth of his company this year was likely to reach 15 per cent, higher than the target of 10 per cent. It posted revenue of Bt26 billion in 2009 after merging with Quality Construction Products (Qcon).
SCG Building Materials has appointed Thaworn Wichicum, the managing director of SCG Landscape, to be the managing director of Qcon. The company is studying Qcon's business and will have a clearer picture of investment in the company within three months, said Pichit.
Kan added that SCG had not considered whether it would delist Qcon from the Stock Exchange of Thailand after it completes the tender offer process.
SCG yesterday announced it was integrating its 15 house brands into one brand - Tra Chang - starting with local markets before expanding into Asean countries.
