The first set of Dangote Cement bags, the 3x Premium, will hit the Cameroonian market in January 2015, the management of the company has said.
Conducting journalists round the 1.5-million-metric-tonne per annum capacity plant in Douala, the General Manager of the plant, Mr. Baba Abdullahi, said the plant was already being test run and full production would start next month.
He was quoted as saying in a statement on Sunday that Dangote Cement would be deploying its state-of-the-art machinery and latest technology from the point of production to delivery, adding that the company was known for employing best practices in its operation.
According to him, the entry of Dangote Cement in the Cameroonian market would significantly contribute to the growth of the country’s economy and that the management of the company was upbeat about the prospect of stimulating the construction and housing sectors of the economy of the country.
He stated that customers in the country were anxious to buy Dangote’s brands of cement because the 3X 42.5grade would be the first in the market that would be produced locally.
“Everything is set for full production as the test-run commenced earlier in the week. The imported clinker and gypsum are on ground and pozollan, which is locally sourced, is available.
The power house, which is one of the last of the plant’s facilities, is almost completed to bring the plant to 100 per cent state of readiness,” Abdullahi said.
The test-run, he stated, would enable the regulatory authorities to carry out independent quality checks, adding, “Bodies such as LABO genie and ANOR will be carrying out checks on the quality of the cement.”
It will be recalled that Dangote Cement commenced the construction of the Cameroon plant in 2012 and has over time employed thousands of artisans and technicians.
Abdullahi said, “Today, it has over 250 permanent staff. The company has risen above all challenges during the construction phase and is set to produce 1.5 million tonnes per year.
“It is a product all Cameroonians so much await since they will benefit from the realities of competition that they will henceforth experience after over 40 years of foreign product dominance.”
Dangote Cement is Africa’s leading cement producer with three plants in Nigeria and plans to expand to 13 other African countries. The group is a fully integrated quarry-to-customer producer with production capacity of 20.25 million tonnes in Nigeria and new operations beginning to come on stream across the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.
The group plans to have around 60 million tonnes of production, grinding and import capacity in sub-Saharan Africa by 2016.
The company’s Obajana plant in Kogi State, Nigeria, is the largest in Africa, with 10.25 million MT per annum capacity across three lines and a further three million MT capacity currently being built. Agency report
