Dangote Group to invest US$3.9 billion in new cement plants

Dangote Group has unveiled its plans to invest approximately US$3.9 billion (N585 billion) in the construction of additional cement lines both within and outside the country within the next few months. Dangote Cement currently accounts for more than 50% of the Nigerian market share.

Devakumar Edwin, Group Executive Director, Business Development, Dangote Group, who disclosed this in Lagos on Monday at a press conference after the contract signing ceremony between the Group and Chinese firm Sinoma International Engineering Company Limited, said construction activities are expected to take off within the next three months.

According to him, some of the new cement lines, which will have a capacity of 1.5 million tpa, will be built in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Republic of Congo and Gabon. He added that the Group plans to construct a 3 million tpa plant in South Africa and one grinding plant in Cameroon with a capacity of 1.5 million tpa. Apart from the Cameroonian project, which will take up to 17 months to complete, he stated that all the others would be delivered within 27 months from the date of commencement.

In addition, Edwin said the Group plans to construct a new cement line at its Obajana cement plant with a capacity of 3 million tpa, as well as two additional cement lines at Ibese in Ogun State with total capacity of 6 million tpa. He expressed the hope that Dangote Cement concerns in Nigeria would be in a position to produce 20 million tpa by December this year. All of these, he noted, would help reduce the price of cement in the country.

Explaining the choice of the Chinese company for the project, he pointed out that Sinoma understands the peculiarities of doing business in Africa. He added that the Group envisages a consolidated cement production capacity of about 50 million tpa within the next five years, based on its ongoing projects, which are at various stages of completion.

Dangote Cement embarked on a pan-African investment drive as part of its vision of making the continent self-sufficient in cement production. This informed the signing of a US$400 million Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) with the Government of Zambia for the setting up of a 1.5 million tpa cement plant in that country, last December. The project is expected to be completed in 2013. The Group’s 1.5 million tpa cement plant in Senegal is also expected to be commissioned in November this year.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/africa-middle-east/15042011/dangote_signs_contract_with_sinoma/