During the Spring Festival, as firecrackers sounded one after another in China, the overseas project sites of Sinohydro Bureau 4 Co., Ltd. remained bustling with construction activity. At 13:18 local time on January 28, the rotary kiln of the Iraq Cement Plant Project was successfully ignited on the first attempt, marking the smooth completion of another core milestone node of the project and laying a solid foundation for commissioning and operation.

The Iraq Cement Plant Project is a strategic project for implementing the outcomes of the first China-Arab States Summit and the meetings between the leaders of the two countries, and for continuously advancing the high-quality development of China-Iraq Belt and Road cooperation. It is also a strategic project for PowerChina to open up the market in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The project is located in a valley about 45 kilometers northeast of Erbil, Iraq, and consists of a new dry-process cement production line with a daily output of 6,000 tons of clinker and a heavy oil captive power station. It has a design life of 25 years, a construction period of 2 years, and an operation and maintenance period of 7.5 years, with a designed annual cement production capacity of 2.05 million tons.

Up to now, all civil works and metal structure installation for the project have been completed, all equipment related to cement production has been commissioned, the equipment of the heavy oil power plant is operating normally and generating electricity, and raw materials required for cement production, such as limestone, gypsum, clay, and iron ore, are ready. Next, the focus will be on kiln drying and clinker burning.

It is reported that once the Iraq Cement Plant Project is completed and put into operation, it will provide high-quality cement materials to the local area, effectively fill the gap in cement supply in the local area and central Iraq, and inject new vitality into the development of Iraq's building materials industry. In addition, it is expected to provide more than 800 local jobs during the construction period, continuously driving local employment and contributing to Iraq's economic and social development and the improvement of people's livelihoods.