Dangote Cement to inaugurate 5 new plants this year

Dangote Cement will complete five new cement plants across Africa this year, reports indicate. The new plants, which are currently under construction, are at various states of completion.

. The projects which are expected to be completed 2014 include:

A 1.5 million tpa plant in Zambia (due to be inaugurated in February).
A 1.5 million tpa plant in Tanzania.
A 3 million tpa plant in South Africa.
A 1.5 million tpa plant in the Republic of Congo.
A 1.5 million tpa plant in Gabon.

Dangote Cement is also  adding  a third and fourth production line at its Ibese plant and adding a further 3 million tpa capacity to the Obajana plant.

The company has been a driving force behind the growth of the Nigerian cement industry, boosting capacity to the point where Nigeria has overtaken South Africa in terms of cement production capacity.

The Obajana plant is currently the largest cement plant in Sub-Saharan Africa with 10.25 million tpa capacity.

Aliko Dangote said recently  that investment in the 'real sector' is the only path towards growth and development for Africa. He added that the continent requires significant investment to meet its infrastructure needs - investment that cannot come from governments alone.