More details have emerged on the recent intra-ECOWAS deal between Dangote Group and Government of Togo.
Otherwise, beyond the understanding with the Government of Togo and Dangote to produce fertiliser from Togo’s phosphate reserves, there is the angle of setting up a cement factory in the West African country.
Business Hilights recalls that Dangote Cement Plc is a Nigerian multinational publicly traded cement manufacturer headquartered in Lagos. The company is engaged in the manufacture, preparation, import, packaging, and distribution of cement and related products in Nigeria and has plants or import terminals in 9 other African countries.
With the Togo deal, Dangote’s investments in cement will hit 10 African economies.
The firm said the cement factory would cost about $60m with an annual capacity of 1.5 million tonnes to meet both local and neighbouring countries’ demand.
In a statement, the group added that whereas the emerging plant, to be located in Lome, would use clinker from Togo and Nigeria, construction of the Lome plant would start in the first quarter of 2020, with its inauguration expected before the end of the year.
Additional fact shows that the new double deal (fertilizer and cement) would serve as Dangote’s first push into Togo, setting the firm up for competition against Germany’s Heidelberg Cement, which operates three companies as well as Fortia Cement in the country.
On the fertiliser production, the Togolese government has projected a cost of $2bn for the project, saying “The project, in line with the second pillar of the Togo National Development Plan, would enable the production of more than one million tonnes of fertilisers derived from phosphates once completed.”