Business
Dangote investment to help Cameroon attain self sufficiency in cement production
Aliko Dangote – Founder and Chairman of the Dangote Group
The Dangote Group has invested US$140 million into its cement grinding plant in the Cameroonian city of Douala.
According to Dangote, the investment, is to help the country to attain self sufficiency in cement production and consumption, create jobs and to halt importation of the commodity into the country.
The grinding plant with a capacity of 1 million metric tons of cement a year – soon to be upgraded to a capacity of 1.5 million metric tons is located in an area called Base Elf on the shorelines of the River Wouri off the Atlantic coastline.
At present, Cameroon imports about 500,000 metric tons of cement annually and that the yearly demand for the commodity is estimated at 4 million metric tons. Efforts by the government to boost domestic production saw supply increase from 1.6 million metric tons to an estimated 2.2 million metric tons leaving a shortfall of 1.8 million metric tons.
In order to fill the gap, Cameroon invited private sector investment into the sector. It was based on this that the government signed an investment agreement with the Dangote Group in September 2011.
According to the general manager of the Dangote plant in Doulal, Abdullahi Bada, the entry of Dangote into the Cameroonian cement industry “is premised on the fact that, Africa has been a dumping ground for products over which most African regions have comparative advantages and we (Dangote) have seized this opportunity – in the area of cement manufacturing.”
The first 50kg (110lb) bag of 42.5 grade of cement from the plant will be available in the market from August this year.
