HeidelbergCement further expands activities in Africa
HeidelbergCement has signed an agreement with George Forrest in order to expand the cement production capacity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The newly agreed shareholder structure will give HeidelbergCement a majority position in Forrest Group’s cement activities in DRC. HeidelbergCement will hold majority stakes of 55 % in the Cimenterie de Lukala (CILU) cement plant, located close to the capital city of Kinshasa, and of 70 % in the two Interlacs plants, located in the eastern part of the country.
Total cement capacity of all plants amounts to more than 500,000tpa and shall be expanded to over 1.4Mt. In the new partnership, Forrest Group retains a 30 % position in the plants.
“With this partnership, we expand our African business and enter the very attractive cement market of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a strong partner on our side,” explains Dr. Bernd Scheifele, CEO of HeidelbergCement. “The CILU cement plant has significant limestone reserves and is ideally located to supply the growing cement market of the capital city of Kinshasa. We plan to further increase capacities over the coming years in order to take advantage of the considerably growing local demand for cement.”
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the third largest country in Africa by area and has a population of nearly 71 million. Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the country with a population of about 10m inhabitants which makes it the second largest city of sub-Saharan Africa.
Published under Cement News
