Dangote Cement, Africa’s largest cement company, has opened a new cement plant in Mfila, Congo Brazzaville.
Estimated to have cost 300 million US dollars, the 1.5mtpa capacity plant is said to have the potentials for creating about 1000 direct jobs and thousands of other indirect jobs.
Inaugurating the plant, President Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Brazzaville described the investment “as an industrial revolution, sort of, within the Economic Community of Central African States (CEMAC),” adding that his country ” was happy to host the investment.”
He further described the establishment of the plant “as timely and encouraging because it was starting operations at a time when the total government revenues had plummeted by 31.3 per cent and revenues from the oil sector had fallen 65.1 per cent since 2015 due to a slide in global crude prices.
In his own comments, President Mohammadu Buhari, represented by a delegation led by the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, commended Alhaji Aliko Dangote for his contributions at revamping Africa’s economy with the construction of cement plants across the continent.
He noted that the “sterling accomplishment makes the Dangote Cement brand and indeed Aliko himself worthy ambassadors of Nigeria.”
Disclosing that his government had consistently supported the Dangote Group in its efforts to contribute to the economic development and freedom of the African continent, President Buhari said, “I believe that it is only home – grown practical solutions that can address the myriad issues plaguing Africa today and one of such challenges that Africa has been grappling with for decades is the infrastructure deficit.”
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He expressed the confidence that “massive investments in cement production which is a key driver of infrastructural development, will contribute in no small measure, to addressing this perennial problem.”
Delivering his address, Chairman, Dangote Cement Plc, Aliko Dangote, said his company was delighted that the plant was completed on schedule, disclosing that with the 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum, total cement production capacity for Congo Brazzaville had more than doubled standing at 2.550 million metric tonnes per annum, far in excess of national demand.
He said, “It is envisaged that this will contribute substantially to the availability and affordability of cement in the country and the Republic of Congo will no longer need to depend on imports to bridge the gap between demand and supply.”
In appreciation of the good gesture of the government and people of Congo Brazzaville, Dangote disclosed that without waiting to stabilise production, the cement company had already began CSR projects.
These include the construction of a 30km road around Yamba, which would have cost the local government about 240 million CFA to execute, disbursement of scholarships for students, building of a school, renovation of a hospital within their host community and repair of a dilapidated bridge on a highway at the cost of 300,000 dollars, among others.
The inauguration of the Congo plant brings to five the number of cement plants established by Dangote Cement across the continent in the last two years.
