Displaying items by tag: Tanzania

Tanzania: Nigeria's Dangote Cement is set to commission its new 3.0Mt/yr cement plant in Mtwara District on 10 October 2015. The company will also hold the ground-breaking ceremony for 25 hectares of jetty land at Mgao village in Mtwara District on the same day.

The commissioning of the new cement plant, which is part of the company's Africa expansion strategy, will be the fourth in the series after Ethiopia, Zambia and Cameroon. Cement plants due for commissioning this year are located in Senegal and South Africa, while construction works are ongoing in several other African countries.

Tanzania: Local cement makers have said that they are now facing collapse due to the continued influx of cheap imported products in an already saturated market.

The Chairman of the Tanzania Chapter of East African Cement Producers Association (EACPA), Reinhardt Swart, said that their situation was being made worse because they were competing with cheap imports at a time when their margins are squeezed by overcapacity in the market. "I am not asking for protection. I'm not asking the government to ban imports. I am asking for the government to create a level playing field," said Swart. He commented they were operating in a difficult environment with risks of job losses to adjust to the situation.

Swart welcomed the entry of new players in the cement market, saying they would stimulate development in the industry but cautioned that their preferential treatment such as tax breaks was not helpful to the country as it contribute to create unleveled playing field against the local industries. "If you allow new players for integrated cement plants and give tax breaks and you allow imports in an over capacity market, that is not fair. There is a risk that cement producers will suffer job losses," said Swart.

Swart said that Tanzania's cement producers support the government campaign to help local industries grow by using local coal, gypsum and other materials, but that the government was not reciprocating the gesture. "If you force us to use local coal, that increase in cost must be calculated in monetary terms and charged on imports as well. The same applies to royalties. If you force us to grow another industry at our cost, then you must either give us subsidies or charge the exact increased amount as additional duties on imports," said Swart.

Tanzania: 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.

Tanzania: 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.

Tanzania: 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.

Tanzania: The National Environment Management Council (NEMC) has vowed to take Tanga Cement to task over allegations of importing thousands of tonnes of hazardous materials. The official environmental overseers allege that Tanga Cement Company Ltd (TCCL) has been importing thermal coal from South Africa in violation of a 10-year-old law that bans an individual or company from importing hazardous materials unless authorised by the NEMC. NEMC officials believe that TCCL's coal is an environmental hazard because it was imported from South Africa, not only without their knowledge, but also without their consent.

"We don't have anything personal, we just want them to abide by the law," said NEMC environment officer Magori Wambura. He added that TCCL had not only ignored the marine conservation laws, but also the government and the public it serves. "We'll take this issue seriously until we make sure they are punished," said Wambura. The NEMC has the power to revoke operational permits for the violating organisations, to settle environmental disputes and to file civil and criminal cases in the court of law.

Legal counsellor John Mnyele from the environmental monitoring council in Tanga said that they would also take TCCL to task for violating the agreement that it had signed with another State environmental monitoring offshoot, the Environment and Social Management Plan (ESMP) on the purchase of coal. Mnyele said that the agreement restricted TCCL's import of coal, limiting it to the use of thermal energy from Kiwira Coal Mines in Mbeya and other sources from Ruvuma region. Mining experts say there are about 1Bnt of coal reserves in southern Tanzania alone.

Tanzania: Tanzania expects to double its cement production to 6Mt/yr in the next few years as new plants are commissioned to meet demand from the construction sector, according to comments made in parliament by Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade, Janet Mbene. Tanzania's cement output rose by 18.9% in 2013 to slightly above 3Mt due to higher demand. Mbene said the rise in output would mean Tanzania would produce a surplus to be exported.

Cement producers currently operating in the country include Tanzania Portland Cement - a subsidiary of Heidelberg Cement, Tanga Cement – a subsidiary of Afrisam Mauritius Investment Holdings and Mbeya Cement – a subsidiary of Lafarge. Lake Cement and Lee Cement Factory are the two newest entrants in Tanzania's cement manufacturing and marketing sector with their core products under brand names of Nyati cement and Kilwa cement respectively. Dangote is also building a 3Mt/yr cement plant in Mtwara Region.

Tanzania: The Tanzania Portland Cement Company (TPCC) and the Tanzanian government have agreed to start producing limestone from mines within Boko prison territory in early 2015. Permanent Secretary at Ministry of Home Affairs Mbaruk Abdulwakil, Commissioner General of Prisons John Minja and TPCC Managing Director Alfonse Rodriguez have announced that a final agreement on the partnership will be sealed by the end of 2014.

"In principle, the government has approved this public private partnership, which is part of reforming and modernising the prison services," said Abdulwakil. The government will receive 1200 cement bags and US$58,000 to build Boko prison staff quarters and office facilities. In return TPCC will mine limestone within the Boko prison premises for use as raw material at its Wazo hill plant.

Tanzania: Dangote Cement has applied for a licence to build a 75MW coal-fired plant in Tanzania that would power a US$500m cement plant now under construction, Tanzania's energy watchdog has reported.

"Dangote Industries applied for a 75MW electricity generation licence to build, own and operate a coal-based captive power plant adjacent to its cement plant," the state-run Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) said. All the generated electricity will be used to run the plant and associated utilities.

"Any interruption in power supply or unstable voltage/frequency causes extensive damage to the refractory and also to the rotary kiln parts. Refractory failures cause production shutdowns varying from 15 to 30 days and unscheduled use of costly imported refractory bricks," the regulator added.

The Dangote cement plant in southern Tanzania is scheduled to be commissioned in the second half of 2015. With a capacity of 3Mt/yr it will supply Tanzania's domestic market and export to landlocked nations in the region.

Tanzania: The chairman and president of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is set to invest in developing the Mbinga Coal Mine in west Tanzania to power the Mtwara cement plant. The sale of excess coal will be used to finance cement exports from Tanzania.

According to reports, Dangote Cement plans to take advantage of the surge in local demand for cement amidst increased construction activity in the region using its 3Mt/yr capacity Mtwara cement plant when it is completed. Dangote Cement expects cement demand in Tanzania to surge in the near future due to the country's improving economic performance.