Niger: President Issoufou Mahamadou has launched the construction of the upcoming 1Mt/yr Kao cement plant at a ceremony at the integrated plant’s site in Kao, Tahoua Region. Minister of Industry Adeniyi Adebayo said that the US$290m plant will generate 314 jobs, according to the Angola Press Agency. It is expected to be completed by early 2022. Kao Cement is 33% owned by private investors from Niger and Mauritania.

India: JSW Cement subsidiary Shiva Cement’s three-month net loss for the quarter ended 30 September 2020 – the second quarter of the 2021 financial year – was US$0.85m, up slightly from the second quarter of the 2020 financial year. Dion News Service has reported that the company recorded a revenue fall of 6.5%, to US$0.72m from US$0.77m. Operating expenses fell by 12% to US$1m from US$1.2m.

India: Shiva Cement is preparing to break ground on an expansion project to set up a 4000t/day clinker unit and a 1Mt/yr grinding unit. The subsidiary of JSW Cement will spend around US$208m on the works from a mixture of debt and equity.

Uganda: The Uganda Development Corporation has announced that its subsidiary Moroto Ateker Cement is ready to begin construction of a 1.2Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Moroto District. The New Vision newspaper has reported that employees are clearing land and erecting a fence around the site. The company says that cement production will follow 18 months after the start of construction of the complex, which will also produce lime and marble. Senior engineer David Ekanya said that 600 local people will be directly employed in the plant’s operations.

It was previously reported in 2016 that Moroto Ateker Cement is a 51:49 joint venture of the state-owned Uganda Development Corporation and Savannah Mines.