South Africa: Investors have confirmed that construction has started on a new 1Mt/yr cement plant by Mamba Cement in Northam, Limpopo. Nedbank Capital and the Bank of China Johannesburg are providing US$107m of debt capital to fund Mamba, according to Business Day. Equity was provided by majority shareholder Jidong Development Group, the China-Africa Development Fund and by Women Investment Portfolio Holdings.
Nedbank Capital's infrastructure, energy and telecommunications head Mike Peo said that construction had already started and the project was expected to be completed by 2016.
"We obviously had a very hard look at the South African cement market. This plant is very close to Johannesburg, a primary market, so the transport costs and the actual cost point at which it can compete is going to be very attractive," said Peo. He added that the outlook for cement demand was 'extremely good' driven by government's infrastructure plans and the provision of housing.
