Announcement of Jordanians, IFC Join in Financing Seventeen Million Fifty Thousand US Dollars for Brickmaking Project on April 12, 1979

• I nternatiorzal Finance Corporation 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. 202-477-1234 IFC Press Release No. 79/28 Thursday, April 12, 1979 Jordanians, IFC Join in Financing $17.5 Million Brick.making Project A new building material will be introduced in Jordan with the establishment of Jordan Lime and Silicate Brick Industries Company Limited, a $17.5 million venture to manufacture sand lime bricks and thereby help develop a new Jordanian resource and alleviate shortages in the rapidly expanding construction sector. The project is being financed by Jqrdanian private investors and institu- tions, and by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), an affiliate of the World Bank. The plant, located at Abu Nseir about 15 miles northeast of Amman, will have an initial capacity to produce 70,000 cubic meters annually of sand • lime bricks on a two-shift basis • The plant will also produce 17,500 tons of salable hydrated lime annually for use in other building materials, especially high-strength mortar, as well as in road construction and fertilizers. In addition, 54,000 tons of aggregate will be available for sale to the construction industry. Some $7.2 million of the Company's shares have been sold to about 2,000 Jordanian businesses and businessmen through a public offering. Additional equity is being provided by the Jordan Pension Fund and IFC, approximately $667,000 each; the Industrial Development Bank of Jordan, $500,000; and the Jordan Housing Bank, $500,000; with cash generation supplying an additional $500,000. A $2.5 million IFC loan and a consortium loan of the equivalent in Jordanian dinars of some $5 million from a local bank group, led by the Industrial Develop- ment Bank of Jordan, complete the financing. In addition to providing financing, IFC assisted the project by helping the sponsors in financial and production planning and in estimating project costs. Demand for new buildings, especially housing, has grown rapidly in Jordan in conjunction with the upsurge in economic growth over the past few years. • Builders have been hampered in satisfying this demand because of limited supplies of local wall construction materials. The moderately priced, high-strength bricks  • - 2 - p'roduced by Jordan Lime and Silicate Brick Co. will fill the gap between costly natural limestone blocks and less expensive, less durable cement blocks presently being produced domestically. Besides creating an additional source of wall construction materials, the project will benefit the Jordan economy by introducing a new technology into the country, by yielding net foreign exchange savings of some $1 million a year, and by utilizing domestic natural resources -- limestone and silica sand. It supports the Government's development program which emphasizes natural resource-based projects and expansion of the construction industry. • (Any inquiries strictly relating to IFC's participation in this project should be directed to the IFC Information Office, 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, Telephone (202) 477-2032.) •