Business
Dangote Cement: Africa expansion on schedule
Aliko Dangote – Founder and Chairman of the Dangote Group
Construction work at the Dangote cement plant in Mtwara in southeastern Tanzania, which will produce 3 million metric tons of cement per annum, is on schedule and will be completed end next year.
The company, Dangote Cement Plc, is investing US$ 500 million in the project – and is expected to turn Mtwara town, into a booming city.
In its annual report, Dangote Cement Plc said, it has invested over US$ 1 billion in Sub Sahara Africa during the last fiscal year.
“In Tanzania, we have now begun work on a 3 million metric tons per annum (3mta) at Mtwara that is expected to be operational in late 2015,” the report said.
It further noted that the company is achieving steady progress with building projects in other African countries. In Ethiopia, work is well underway to build a 2.5mta plant at Mugher, with the plant installation expected to be completed by the end of this year, the report stated.
The report pointed out that in Zambia, work is underway on a 1.5mta plant at Ndola, with cement production expected late in the latter half of 2014. It noted that the group is reviewing plans for Kenya with a view to increasing the scale of our proposed factory from 1.5mta to 3.0mta.
“This is because we are confident there will be sufficient demand both in Kenya and the east and central African region. We have secured a prospecting licence and are now in the process of upgrading it to a mining licence,” the report said.
In South Sudan, we have put our plans on hold owing to the unfavorable political and conflict situation that exists in the country at present. Building work is progressing with a 1.5mta grinding plant in Cameroon, with production expected to commence in October 2014. In Congo we are building a 1.5mta plant due to open in 2016.
“Along the coast of West Africa, we plan to build import and grinding facilities to receive and process raw materials supplied from Nigeria, Senegal and elsewhere. Work in Sierra Leone is nearing completion and we now anticipate it will commence operations in the final quarter of 2014,” the report said.
According to the Dangote Group founder and CEO Aliko Dangote, the on going investments are in line with the group’s aim of expanding across Africa and increasing its capacity to 29 million metric tons per annum by 2015.