East African Portland Cement completes land sale

Government majority-owned East Africa Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) is selling land to the government after making KES1.26bn (US$12.4bn) losses in 2H18.

EAPCC Chairman, Edwin Kinyua, finalised the 900-acre land sale with the Kenyan government at the opening of the Homes Expo in Nairobi. Revenue from the land sale is will also see EAPCC develop residential offices for the government's infrastructure security team at Athi River.

"We have also held fruitful discussions with KCB Group which could see us sign a new land deal with KCB Mortgage Division that will see us partner in a residential development. The decision will be known in the next 90 days," Mr Kinyua said.

He also welcomed the ‘Buy Kenya Build Kenya’ policy saying the expected 80m bags of cement deal between the government and contractors that will be hired to put up the 500,000 affordable housing units will inject new demand for cement, giving cement manufacturers a lifeline worth KES40bn.

"This means full-steam production, more jobs and upgrades to our machinery. We have since spent KES500m on the plant upgrade and a further KES2bn will be spent on plant upgrades in the next financial year," Mr Kinyua said.