Kenya: Savannah Cement has released further details on its plans to upgrade its Athi River grinding plant. It intends to increase the capacity at the site by 1.2Mt/yr to 2.4Mt/yr with the installation of a vertical roller mill. Additionally, new belt conveyors, a packing plant and dust filters will be added. It plans to have the upgrade commissioned by mid-2018, according to the Business Daily newspaper. It will be built from December 2016 to March 2018.
"We are hoping to issue the tender for the project in early 2017, possibly January or February. Being a second production line, construction work should take anything between 14 and 18 months, therefore we would have the plant up and running by mid-2018. Once we get the approvals we will immediately look to finalise the financing aspect of the project," said Savannah Cement managing director Ronald Ndegwa. The cement producer is adding production capacity to expand its range of cement, with a focus on its hydraulic road binder blend that is used in road construction.