Africa’s largest independent cement producer, Dangote Cement Plc, plans to invest $16 billion in new projects and existing cement plants across Africa within the next three years, its President/CEO, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has said.
Speaking at the inauguration of Dangote Cement Plant, Ethiopia, yesterday, he said the investment is in line with the company’s long term vision to become one of the world’s biggest cement producers.
“We envisage that by the time we complete all our ongoing African projects, we will be on track to achieving our target,” he said.
To achieve the target, he said the company is currently simultaneously setting up new cement plants and terminals across 16 African countries, including Ethiopia, which is the sixth offshore plant that has commenced operations outside Nigeria. Other countries where the company’s plants are currently running include Senegal, Cameroon, Ghana, South Africa, and Zambia.
While the company’s cement plant in Tanzania is set for commissioning in few months time, he said other plants in other countries are in various stages of construction, and are scheduled for completion next year. He said construction on the new 2.5 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) Dangote Cement Plant in Mugher District in Ethiopia started in March 2012.
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While promising that the company would double the capacity of the plant starting from this year, he explained that the choice of Mugher, a village located about 85 kilometers from Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, for the $480 million project was informed by the availability of abundant natural resources required for the manufacture of cement
He listed them to include limestone, gypson, clay, silica sand, and ferrogeneous basalt. Besides, Mugher, he said, is a major cement hub in Ethiopia.
“The plant will produce our premium 42.5 cement quality grade that has raised the bar as far as cement usage in Africa is concerned because of its superior qualities that include extra strength, extra yield and extra life,” he said, adding that the plant will create direct employment for about 2, 000 people in the main plant operations and logistics with a fleet of about 600 trucks, as well as over 5, 000 indirect jobs.