The Dangote Group has inaugurated a new cement plant and 30 megawatts coalfired power plant in Zambia. The new plant, with the capacity to produce 1.5 million Metric Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA), is located in Masaiti District, Ndola town in Zambia. The cement plant with the power plant came at a cost of $420million.
The plant has already started production. Speaking during the inauguration yesterday, President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said the $400 million spent on the new cement plant came from Nigeria. According to him, with the new plant, the company now has about 14 cement plants in African countries.
He added that the power plant would generate 30 megawatts out of which 20 megawatts would be used by the company and 10 megawatt place in reserve. In the next 10 days, he disclosed, a new haulage business would commence operation in the region with over 400 trucks.
The company has also started the first cement road in Zambia, he added. Dangote said the company was committed to building schools, hospitals and other infrastructure as part of its corporate social responsibility. Besides, he said the company had set up scholarship scheme for students in the universities in Zambia while small-scale farmers would be assisted yearly to improve their yields.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo described the new plant in Zambia as an “important milestone of relationship” that exists between Nigeria and Zambia. He said: “Dangote and other entrepreneurs have done us very proud with 1.5 metric tonnes per annum of cement in Zambia, 2.5 mmtpa in Ethiopia and another cement plants in Senegal, Tanzania and others countries.
“We must invest in education, technology, infrastructure. We must challenge our economic intellectual development and this is the time to act on economic integration.” President of Zambia, Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, said with the new cement plant in Ndola, the region would soon become another Obajana of Nigeria, describing the initiative as “the largest investment in Zambia by Nigeria.” The cement plant, he said, would help to create direct and indirect jobs for more than 16,000 people in the district when fully implemented.
“This will create jobs and restore the dignity of Zambians. It will transfer skills, technology and business linkages. “The price of cement has gravitated toward low price since Dangote Cement began production. Now the life span of our roads will be pushed to 50 years by constructing our roads with cement.” The Zambian president stated that the cement plant was critical to infrastructural development in the country.
This, he said, included roads, schools, houses as well as bridges. Dignitaries at the event include the Chairman of Forte Oil, Mr. Femi Otedola; Governor of Edo State, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole and former Governor of Ekiti State, Chief Niyi Adebayo. The Dangote plant in Kogi State, which is the largest single cement plant in Africa, produces 13.25mmtpa from four lines, dwarfing all other cement plants on the continent. This is closely followed by the Ibese cement plant in Ogun State, which also runs four lines with a combined annual output of 12mmtpa.
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