Displaying items by tag: Tanzania Portland Cement Company
Tanzania: Tanzania Portland Cement has announced plans to invest a total of US$15.0m in modernising its 2.0Mt/yr-capacity Tanzania Portland Cement plant in 2021. The Tanzania Daily News newspaper has reported that the producer says its main challenge is cargo delays at the port of Dar es Salaam. This has caused concern for potential investors, according to the company. Senior commercial manager Danford Semwenda lobbied the government to help solve the problem.
Twiga cement trains block makers
28 July 2015Tanzania: Tanzania Portland Cement Company Limited (TPCC) has recently conducted a training seminar for 250 cement distributors and block makers from Dar es Salaam to improve efficiency. The training was aimed at strengthening safety at work, improving the quality of blocks produced and enhancing efficiency in the production process to meet the growing market demand in the country, according to East African Business Week.
"Twiga Cement will continue to conduct similar trainings for block makers throughout the country. This is part of our effort to create awareness in the industry," said TPCC's commercial director, Simon Delens. He said that construction continues to grow with an increasing demand for blocks. "This is part of the firm's contribution to our local employment market. We have been a part of it for 46 years now as we want to build a strong nation," said Delens.
Twiga Cement’s profit soars by 50%
20 March 2015Tanzania: Tanzania Portland Cement Company's (Twiga) net profit grew by almost 50% in 2014 thanks to its strengthened brand image through quality and service delivery to the market.
Twiga announced a profit increase of 47.3% to US$29.8m for 2014, up from US$20.2m in 2013. Twiga Cement chairman Jean-Marc Junon said that the country's 7% GDP growth in 2014 helped to boost cement consumption significantly. "The increase in revenue, coupled with efficient cost management, resulted in an increase in operating profit of 55% to US$41m compared to 2013," said Junon.
Twiga recorded a 15% increase in sales volumes as a result of a better production efficiency, the commissioning of a new cement mill in the last quarter and the re-introduction of Twiga Extra in the company's product mix. Junon said that cement industry prospects are positive as consumption in the country and the East African block had continued to grow over the last few years. "Having an expanded capacity, Twiga is well placed to meet this growing demand," said Junon.
Twiga Cement shut over dust pollution
09 February 2015Tanzania: The National Environment Management Council (NEMC) has indefinitely closed down Tanzania Portland Cement Company (TPCC, Twiga) over environmental pollution.
NEMC senior legal officer Heche Suguta said that the plant was also required to pay US$26,944 in penalties. He said that the NEMC had established that the plant was discharging a huge amount of dust, which was bad for the environment and the people surrounding the plant. "We have several times asked the plant management to work out this shortcoming, but they have not taken any steps to mitigate the problem," said Suguta.
Twiga manufactures almost half of the cement produced by the three major plants in the county and its closure is likely to spark the fear of a sharp rise in cement prices. According to 2013 statistics, Twiga produces 1.4Mt/yr of cement out of the 3Mt/yr the country can produce. The remaining 1.6Mt/yr is shared among Mbeya Cement Company and Tanga Cement Company.
Suguta said that, previously, Twiga had four chimneys to emit pollutants, but three broke down and the plant was using only one out-dated chimney, which was overwhelmed. "The plant will be allowed to resume operations only after sorting out the problem by controlling dust," said Suguta. He said that the NEMC had been receiving complaints from residents surrounding the area that the dust from the plant was causing headaches and respiratory problems. "If they disobey this order, we will arrest their managing director and other stern legal action would follow."
Twiga's managing director and area manager for East Africa, Alfonso Rodriguez, said that the dust was coming from an old plant after the filter of the new plant got a technical fault. He said that they had ordered a new filter, which might take a month to arrive in the country.