Unicem to invest US$500m in new line, Nigeria

United Cement Company (UNICEM) has said it plans to spend US$500m on a second line at it cement works in Nigeria and will boost investments going forward amid an increasingly competitive operating environment.

Speaking in an interview with local press, executive director, Javier De Benito, said the project for line No 2 at its 2.5Mta Mfamosing works, is still ongoing and the company is currently working on administrative issues. However, he underlined that management are very keen for this project to come to fruitiion.

As other local players such as Dangote Cement, Lafarge WAPCO and BUA also increase their domestic volumes, Mr De Benito said the company will invest a further US$2bn-3bn over the next few years to sustain its position in the domestic market.

During the interview, Mr De Benito also called on the government to make the investment environment more conducive. He cited distribution issues such as poor roads infrastructure which hamper its trucks from travelling to selling points at distant places. As such, the company has had to build a 22km access road to facilitate its logistics but Mr De Benito stressed that the authorities should should look into issues of public infrastructure as well as the and high cost of gas.

UNICEM is jointly owned by Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Lafarge and Holcim of Switzerland. The company has approved an expansion plan to boost its productive capacity to 5Mta, from the present 2.5Mta, by 2016.