Displaying items by tag: Zambia
Commission studies hiked cement prices
06 November 2013Zambia: The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) of Zambia has started a study to investigate cement price rises in South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania and Zambia. The four sub-Saharan countries were chosen by the CCPC as a case study because they had similar companies producing and selling cement locally according to CCPC public relations officer Hanford Chaaba.
"We have been monitoring this situation concerning price changes for quite some time now and a study has been focused on these countries because the same producers of cement in Zambia have established factories in South Africa, Tanzania and Botswana," said Chaaba. He added that a similar study is also being conducted for the sugar and poultry industries.
Zambia: Zambezi Portland Cement has reduced its export sales by 50% to cope with increased domestic demand in Zambia. According to sales and marketing manager Isaac Ngoma, the company had been exporting more than 14,000t/month to neighbouring countries. Export sales will now be limited to 7000t/month.
"For us, the Zambian market is our first priority and only the excess product is sold abroad, so with demand reaching an all time high locally, we see little sense in continuing to service foreign markets while starving the local market," said Ngoma.
Zambezi Portland Cement has a cement production capacity of 1400t/day and it is currently producing at over 95% of its installed capacity.
Dangote announces new Zambian plant
30 January 2013Zambia: Dangote Cement is set to open another US400m cement plant in Lusaka in 2014, bringing its total investment in Zambia to US$800m according to executive director Monica Musonda.
"The opening of the Dangote Ndola plant, which is situated in Masaiti, will make Dangote the biggest cement producer in the country producing 3000t/day," said Musonda. "The local cement production scenario will never be the same again with the coming of Dangote, which has now entered the Zambian market." She added that plans to open another 1.5Mt/yr capacity plant in the capital city after the completion of the Ndola plant in 2014 have reached an advanced stage.
China's Sinoma International Engineering has been hired to build the new Dangote plant. The chosen contractor would be announced once the construction process takes off. Musonda said, that like the Dangote Ndola plant, the Lusaka plant would be constructed using the latest, environmentally-friendly technologies that are commonly available in Europe and the United States.
Dangote's regional commercial manager Venkie Srinivasan said in an interview that his company expected a 40-45% share of the Zambian cement market after the opening of the Ndola plant in the third quarter of 2014. Srinivasan said that Dangote Industries in Zambia was set to meet the demand on the local construction and mining sector. He added that any excess cement would be able to compete favourably in the regional export market, including Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Elsewhere, Zambia's Southern Province permanent secretary Chileshe Mulenga announced that a consortium of Indian investors are planning to invest US$10bn in various industries in the region including the construction of a new cement plant.
Production halts at Zambezi Portland Cement
02 January 2013Zambia: Cement production has stopped at Zambezi Portland Cement in Ndola due to a dispute over the company's shareholder structure, according to The Times of Zambia newspaper.
A senior source at the cement producer said that management officials were locked out of the plant on 24 December 2012. He added that the halt in operations was due to ongoing issues regarding the ownership of Zambezi Portland Cement. Further checks by the newspaper revealed that the plant is surrounded by security personnel. Zambia Portland Cement has a production capacity of 1300t/day.
Zambezi Portland Cement directors deported
28 November 2012Zambia: Two Italian managers working for Zambezi Portland Cement have had their residence permits revoked by the Zambian Immigration Department. Operations director Danielle Ventriglia and marketing director Valerio Ventriglia have both returned to Italy.
Home Affairs Minister Edgar Lungu denied that the managers had been deported. He stated that their residence permits had been revoked and consequently cancelled because the two directors based in Ndola had violated the Immigration and Deportation Act No 18 of 2010. Lungu said the government would deal with people who 'mistreat' Zambian workers and was determined to cleanse all institutions by uprooting 'bad elements'.
Zambezi Portland Cement Operations manager Mwamba Kayula appealed to the government to reverse the decision, saying that Ventriglia was behind the success of Zambezi Portland Cement. "This man has been operations director for the past two years, he was born in Luanshya and we still need to continue with his good work at the company," said Kayula.
Work to step up at Zambian Dangote plant
15 February 2012Zambia: Work on the construction of a new US$500m Dangote Cement plant in the Masaiti District of Zambia is progressing well and will be completed on schedule, according to company logistics manager Kampew Nundwe. The 1.5Mt/yr plant will be the largest in the country when it reaches its full capacity in 2013.
The plant is expected to create more than 1500 direct and indirect jobs during the construction and operational phases. "At the construction stage, 500 casual workers will be employed and up to 1000 people will be employed when full operations start," said Nundwe.
Nundwe said that the Chinese contractor working on the project has completed construction of temporary offices would soon be moving to the main construction site, with 80 trucks carrying materials from Germany and China scheduled to arrive from 15 February 2012 onwards.
Ndola Lime forced to suspend production
22 June 2011Zambia: The Zambian Environment Management Agency (ZEMA) has ordered Ndola Lime Company to shut down its plant, which has caused public outcry by releasing dust emissions higher than the lawful allowable limits. ZEMA's northern region manager Patson Zulu said that ZEMA had revoked the plant's license for its rotary kiln.
"The complaints from some Ndola residents about excessive dust emissions are justified." said Zulu. "At ZEMA, we have no option than to act accordingly. The onus is now on Ndola Lime to see to it that measures are put in place to comply with the country's environmental laws." Zulu warned other companies breaching the regulations, which are believed to include Lafarge operations, that they also risked being shut down. "People should be allowed to enjoy a good quality of life by having air which is not polluted. We shall no longer tolerate environmental mischief," he said.
Ndola Lime's acting general manager Abraham Witika confirmed that his company was failing to meet the lawful allowable dust emission standards because its kiln's dust abetment unit had developed a fault." Ndola Lime Company has already done an assessment on the damaged abatement unit that is responsible for regulating the levels of dust emission and the process to order the replacement has started," he said, adding that it was unfortunate that the plant had developed a fault despite having only having had the dust abetment unit replaced (at a cost of USD 3.5m) in August 2010.