Leading Cement manufacturer, Dangote Cement Plc, is deepening its pan African expansion drive with the commencement of construction of a new three million metric ton per annum capacity cement grinding plant in Cote D’Ivoire.
The project is coming just as the company announced the ground breaking of a new six million metric ton per annum Greenfield cement plant in Okpella, Edo State and commencement of works on a six million mtpa capacity plant in Itori, Ogun State.
Dangote Group Executive Director, Strategy, Projects and Portfolio Management, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, while making the disclosure in Lagos said the Cote d’Ivoire project would cost the company $200 million and would be completed in 18 months.
The project, which the Director said has aroused a lot of interest from both the government and people of Cote d Ivoire, is sitting on over 60 hectares of land, next to the New Industrial Park in Yongbon, a city just outside of Abidjan, the nation’s capital.
The grinding plant, made up of two lines of 1.5 million metric tonnes capacity each, when completed, will more than double the total capacity of local cement production in the francophone West African nation, as the plant would raise total local cement production capacity of the country by over 100 per cent.
The plant when completed will utilize power off the grid and provide direct and indirect jobs for over 3,000 people from within Cote d Ivoire and other west African countries.
Mr. Edwin disclosed further that upon completion, Nigerian experts would be deployed to carryout initial training of local manpower and skill transfer.
The project is being undertaken by Ayoki Fabricon, a mechanical and civil engineering company based in Pune, India. Tyssen Krupp, a German steel firm is also a sub-contractor.
Established in 1984, Ayoki has been involved in fabrication, erection and commissioning of cement, power, sugar, boiler, distillery and material handling projects both in India and abroad.
Ayoki has undertaken fabrication, erection and commissioning services of plants for clients which include Jaypee Group, Ambuja Cements, Aditya Birla Group, Lafarge, JK cement Group.
It would be recalled that Dangote group also recently announced that it will be building new cement plants in two Nigerian communities of Okpella, Edo state and Itori, Ogun state.
The forthcoming Nigerian plants are expected to add 12 million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) to the company’s current local output of 31.25mmtpa, raising it to a total 41.25mmtpa.
Edwin had explained that the Okpella plant will have two cement lines which will churn out 3mmtpa each, while the Itori plant will deliver approximately 3mmtpa from two production lines. Both plants are expected to come on stream within the next three years.
He explained that said the company’s expansion drive was targeted at expanding its spread nationwide and reducing the transportation cost component of its operations.
He added that the new investments will also lower the cost of production, bring about a future reduction in the price of cement, and generate employment opportunities for youths of the host communities.
