Perry Group is planning a $25-million cement plant near Te Kuiti, producing 80,000 tonne a year, with Perry Group about to lodge a resource consent application for the project. The planned site for the plant is at Te Kumi, 5 km north of Te Kuiti at a lime quarry owned by Ravensdown Fertilizer, with which Perry Resources has a long-term contract for supply of limestone. The site is already intensively quarried, producing high-grade agricultural lime and burnt lime for the pulp and paper and road industries. Peter Walsh, General Manager, Perry Resources said the company was hoping to have its resource consent application to the Waitomo District Council ready by May. Consultation would take place after that. The area was already zoned industrial and its location is ideal for a cement plant, he said. Construction is expected to take 12 to 18 months after consents are granted, and the plant is expected to be commissioned in mid-2013. The plant would supply customers throughout Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Auckland.