Lafarge has a cement plant with one leg in India and the other in Bangladesh. The plant also finds itself on both sides of law
The Indian landscape is testing territory for mining companies. While they are tempted by the immense richness of the soil, they are also put off by its uncountable hurdles — forests, native settlements and lack of infrastructure. It looked like things were getting better when French cement major Lafarge’s limestone mining project in Meghalaya started off in 2006 “almost smoothly,” given its complex nature.
A 17 km-long conveyor belt takes the limestone across the border to Lafarge’s cement plant in Bangladesh, part of the Indian government’s promise to develop its neighbour’s cement sector. But Meghalaya comes under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution due to which its land laws are vulnerable to various interpretations.
(This story appears in the 30 April, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)