In an exclusive interview with Indian Cement Review, Anil Counto, Managing Director of Alcon Group comments on the trends and market of cement and RMC in Goa.The Alcon Group has number of businesses apart from development of residential and commercial properties and infrastructure. How, when and with what business did it all begin?Nanda Shadashiv Naiq Counto alis Anil Counto Managing Director of Alcon Group passed his Civil Engineering in year 1966, which was after liberation of Goa, the initial period of infrastructure development and real estate development in Goa. He thought it was the best time to enter in the construction business and accordingly he started working in construction & mining companies for first five years including two years in PWD and thereafter he established Alcon Construction in a partnership in 1971.What is the rationale behind the forward and backward integration of various construction and property development businesses?Having initial success in construction business the next step was naturally hotel business whose main requirement was construction of the hotel buildings and the other ancillary works connected with the civil engineering works and being a civil engineer and having a logical approach to any problem opposed potential in hotel industry and started the first hotel. Having successful launching of the first hotel project in 1981 and eventually two more hotels, we decided to have forward and backward integration of various construction materials namely cement and ready mix concretes.What kind of tie-up does Alcon have with ACC and what kind of mutual benefits does this partnership provide to both the parties? Does ACC holds stake in Alcon?From the inception of the plant in 1992 Alcon Cement Company (ACCPL) had marketing and technical collaboration with ACC. From 2008 onwards ACCPL became a JV company with ACC. The quality of cement produced by ACCPL is as per ACC standards and marketing of the cement is done exclusively through ACC.The benefits for Alcon are that the product is having a brand of a market leader in cement business in India and marketing of the product is taken care of by ACC. ACC has the benefit that it can cater Goa market with fresh produced cement manufactured in Goa. Alcon’s goodwill also helped the JV companies to have higher percentage of market share in both products. ACC has minority share holding in ACCPL.What kind of cement do you manufacture and how is the cement business doing in Goa? What is your current capacity and do you have any plans to expand it?
We manufacture Portland Slag Cement (PSC) & Ordinary Porland Cement (OPC) at our plant.Cement business in Goa is growing. At present our cement production capacity is 1.80 lakh tonnes annually. We are in the process of expanding the existing capacity to 5 lakh tonnes per year.You have two RMC manufacturing facilities at Ponda and Margao. How is the business for RMC in Goa?The present requirement of cement in Goa is about 50000 tn per month out of which 20000 tn is for concrete and thus we have huge potential of use of RMC in Goa. Presently we are having 4 RMC plants operating in Goa which caters to concrete requirement to all parts of Goa. We set up our initial RMC plant in Kundaim, Taluka Ponda, and it was the first of its kind in Goa. It was followed by our second plant at Margao, third plant at Vasco and forth plant at Dhargal.RMC business in Goa is growing. From one RMC plant in 2004, at present there are 9 RMC plant in operation in Goa.What is the production capacity of both RMC plants and how do you maintain consistency of quality in RMC?Production capacity of Kundaim plant is 6,000 cu.m. per month. For Margao plant it is 6,000 cu.m. per month. Vasco plant has 10,000 cu.m. production capacity per month. And Dhargal plant has 10,000 cu.m. production capacity per month.We maintain consistency of RMC quality which is of prime importance by strict quality control. We have right type and quality conscious people which is the heart of any RMC plant and we give maximum importance to quality front.What are the special features and benefits of the microfine products manufactured by Alcon?Our microfine products are designed for achieving high performance concrete and sustainable concrete and also for having grouting solutions for stabilizing the soil/soft strata mainly in the construction of hydro power tunneling. Our product is also used in strengthening the foundation strata. This product is not only for high rise buildings but is also mainly used in constructions for having 50Mpa strength and above at 28 days.With scientific blending of microfine cementations materials it is possible to achieve solutions for any type of construction works where you require strength of concrete more than 50 Mpa, pumping of concrete at more than 200 metre height and also to reduce heat of hydration in huge raft foundation.What are the advantages of using GGBS manufactured by your company in concrete and mortar mixes?The product GGBS has got special qualities of chloride and sulfide resistance in the soil. GGBS when blended with OPC cement in right properties gives much high strength which continuously goes on gaining strength.The cement produced with GGBS is mainly used in the coastal area like Goa and Konkan, as this cement has got sulfate/chloride resisting qualities of soil. We ventured in this cement/GGBS mainly to have sustainable and durable concrete in the state of Goa.Which are the major construction and infrastructure projects completed by you till date in Goa? Which other projects are in the pipeline this fiscal?We are in business for last 40 year and our most of the projects in Goa like residential and infrastructural development projects are using our cement and ready mix concrete. We have got approximately 60% market share of RMC supply of Goa. We have constructed number of dry docks, jetties, roads and also associated in the initial development of MPT and number of hotels built by us in Goa.Which are the major residential and commercial projects completed by Alcon in Goa? Which other projects are under construction or on the anvil in future?We have constructed many residential and commercial buildings in the state of Goa in the seventies, eighties & nineties. The constructions of number of cinema theaters, was constructed by us. We have also number of other land development done by us.To which segment do your residential projects cater – premium, mid-level or low cost?We cater for all the three segments of residential projects. We are in cement, ready mix concrete and microfine products. We with the combination of above three products can cater for all the today’s need of the state of Goa in all construction fronts. We are also in position to build very low cost housing in the state of Goa with our three products, if the government gives us the land and the number of low cost tenement to be built is high.You have three hospitality properties in Goa. Are these properties built, owned and managed by you? How are these hotels and resorts doing?Our hotels Ronil Beach Resort in Baga and Hotel Delmon in Panaji were built by us. The same are owned and managed by us. Our specialist restaurant O’ Coquiro was taken over by us from the earlier owner. Presently it is owned and managed by us. Our hotels and restaurant are doing quite well. Hospitality business in Goa will give good GDP growth to the state of Goa. We have plans to construct a five start hotel and we have got land for the same at one of the prestigious beach front of Goa.Your business activities are mostly Goa-based. Are you planning to go to other states, regions or cities in India?Although our business activities at present are Goa based, we are looking forward to a suitable opportunity to spread our wings to other states of India.However some of our microfine products are exported to Far East countries, Middle East countries and to all the metros of our country. We had a joint venture in construction at Middle East (Bahrain) in late seventies and early eighties.What are your future plans and how do you propose to implement them?We would like to venture into artifacts business in a big way. We also want to have a knowledge village in Goa as I feel Goa is right destination for education hub. We also want to venture into health care business in coming years. We have plans to double our turnover in next 3 years.