20 April 2015
Dangote Cement to start Ethiopian production in May 2015 20 April 2015
Ethiopia: Dangote Cement's new cement plant in Ethiopia will open in May 2015. Minister of Mines, Tolosa Shagi visited the plant and commented that new plants and upgrades to existing plants will enable Ethiopia to meet local demand, according to local media. The new cement plant in Oromia cost US$400m and it will have a cement production capacity of 2.5Mt/yr making it one of the largest in East Africa.
Currently, cement demand in Ethiopia is estimated to be around 7 – 8Mt/yr with cement production at 5.4Mt/yr. Once fully operational the Dangote Cement plant is hoped to raise the country's cement production to 8Mt/yr.
Ghana: Savanna Diamond Cement Co has launched operations of a 0.44Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Buipe, in northern Ghana. President John Mahama officially inaugurated the US$90m project, according to local media. The new plant uses limestone from Buipe. The plant holds a partnership with state power company GRIDCo with a 25MW substation from which 7MW is used by the cement plant and the remaining 18MW is used by the local community. Diamond Cement also owns two other cement plants in the country.