Leading African quintessential indigenous investor, Aliko Dangote has put paid to his drive to end cement importation across the continent as all is set for commencement production at his $300 million cement grinding plant in Congo within days.
Business Hilights recalls that Dangote Cement Plc spearheaded the Nigeria’s backward integration in cement during the last administration and has since taken the campaign across Africa with plants in a number of countires.
A usually dependable source from the group confided in our correspondent weekend that the Congolese plant is currently at about 99 per cent completion rate, and the company hopes to flag off the 1.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) before the end of June, 2017.
The feat means therefore that total yearly manufacturing capacity of the group in Africa will rise to about 32 million tonnes.
The Congolese plant is located in the city of Bouansa on an 80-hectare land is expected to strengthen the nation’s economy.
Already, work is also in top gear at the construction site of a new 3 million MT capacity cement grinding plant in Cote D’ivoire.
Mr. Ganapathy Balasubramanian, the Plant Director for Congo Operations, who gave details on the company’s operations, explained that the factory, which costs CFA 133 billion or about $300 million, is expected to meet Congolese national cement demand and cater for the export market in neighbouring countries in the Central Africa region.
According to Balasubramanian, “Satisfying the current demand of the construction market in general, saving foreign currency expenditure and generating employment opportunities are some of the benefits of this project”.
“When it commences operations, the 1.5 MMT capacity grinding plant will increase the total capacity of local cement production in the francophone nation and provide direct and indirect jobs for over 1,600 people from within the country and other neighbouring countries.
Continuing, he said “Dangote Cement will be depend on an on-grid power system in meeting its energy needs, as 20 megawatts are being supplied from the national grid, stressing that the factory has a potential utilisation profile of 90 per cent when it commences operations”.
He added that as part of a digital drive to improve quality of the product, the company is deploying automatic robot laboratory for quality test to boost delivery consistency and consumers satisfaction in the region.
