The NCAP Board of Directors on Thursday approved by majority vote the specifications of the public tender to tie up with private companies in the Portland Cement and Lime business.
The state oil company pointed out that an integral industrial and commercial association has been sought to do business in whole or in part with the aim of reversing the loss-making situation and restoring the sector’s competitiveness.
Along with the specifications, the board of directors approved the contracts that will govern the association, a process that began in 2021 and included several phases such as a technical data room, an expression of interest and a call for competitive dialogue, and a stage of preparation of the terms and conditions of the tender.
Bidders will be required to submit a business plan, which should include personnel requirements and committed minimum investment.
“Today we have approved a bidding document to find a partner with whom we intend to rescue a symbolic business for Encaps and the country that has been badly neglected by mistake or omission. Cement & Lime The need to overcome technical obsolescence of our plants, low mechanical reliability of some critical production equipment, low efficiency of labor per ton produced, fixed and variable production costs, and, basically, a market shortfall, to save the business of To whom to sell the goods produced”, expressed the majority of the Board of Directors.
Encap is committed to seeking mechanisms to ensure job stability and income for Portland workers.
Vicente Iglesias, director of NCAP for the Broad Front, voted against it, noting that the association process was “inconvenient for ANCAP and ultimately for the whole country.” He called for “a public, open and transparent debate with the whole society and all the actors involved” and a specific law.
For Iglesias, the association “definitely destroys NCAP Portland’s industry, from production and marketing to simply selling stone.” “The plan without innovations as a starting point is a partial and biased analysis and does not consider all possibilities of business reform. In short, the new thing is to privatize only this sector of activity”, he said.
