Zambia’s second cement plant to start production

Zambia’s second cement plant to start production
28 March 2007


Zambezi Portland Cement (ZPC) in Zambia’s northern city of Ndola, Copperbelt Province, will start cement production between August and September this year, local newspaper Times of Zambia cited a company official as saying on Tuesday.  
 
ZPC Managing Director Antonio Ventriglia said the company had already installed the pre-heater tower and would soon start the mining of limestone, used in the cement manufacturing process.  
 
Ventriglia said ZPC had invested US40m dollars in the plant and the 330,000 tons production capacity per annum would alleviate the current cement shortage in Zambia.  
 
Zambia’s cement market is currently dominated by the Chilanga Cement Plc, a branch company to the French construction group Lafarge.
 
Chilanga is only capable of producing 700,000t of cement annually, far behind the country’s increasing demand thanks to the booming economy especially the fast-growing construction sector.  
 
The company has invested US£120m dollars to build a new plant which will be operational by June 2008.  
 
The new plant will be capable of producing 2000tpd of cement upon commissioning.  
 
The Zambian government has also lifted the restrictions on the importation of cement late last year to meet the market demand.  
 
Cement price has hiked to 60,000 kwacha (about US$14) per 50kg pocket from 35,000 kwacha (US$8) in early 2006.  
Published under Cement News