Cheetah Cement pumps P700m into Matsiloje plant expansion
FRANCISTOWN: Cheetah Cement Botswana plans to spend P700 million expanding the output of the old Matsiloje Portland Cement plant, BusinessWeek has learnt.
The plant closed in January 2018 due to competition from South African imports with 150 people losing their jobs. For years before its closure, Matsiloje Portland Cement had recorded a string of losses.
The plant was bought by Namibian firm, Whale Rock Cement, which in turn owns Cheetah Cement Botswana.
During a recent tour by the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), the Cheetah Cement Botswana chair, Zedekias Gowaseb said the plant was currently employing 50 workers and producing 100 tonnes of cement per day.
The P700 million expansion will ramp up production to 900,000 tonnes per annum, which is equivalent to raising the current daily output by nearly 24 times.
“When the expansion of the plant is finished we will have about 200 local employees,” Gowaseb said.
He said at present, the plant is small and does not meet the demand for cement locally.
“The funds will be channelled towards upgrading the crushing side, process plant, and the storage facility,” the chairperson said.
“The idea is for the expansion to be complete in eight months.
“If everything goes according to plan, the expansion will be completed between May and June next year.”
Upon completion of the plant, some workers from Whale Rock Cement will be deployed at Cheetah for a period of three to five years to transfer skills to Batswana.
Gowaseb said Cheetah began supplying their products this year in February and focussing on Francistown and surrounding areas. Cheetah produces two different types of cement, Portland cement 42.5N and Portland cement 32.5N.
The chairperson said although the output is not enough, the products have been well received by the market.
Whale Rock Cement is a joint venture founded by Gowaseb and Heng Yuda Building Material (Shaanxi) which jointly established a dry method process cement and clinker production line of 1.2 million tonnes per annum in Namibia.
For his part, BITC CEO, Keletsositse Olebile said one of the ways the organisation identifies investment opportunities is by studying the country’s import bill. The BITC toured the plant as part of celebrations to mark the organisation’s 10th anniversary.
Olebile indicated that the market for cement is very high as Botswana uses around 600,000 tonnes per annum.
He added that BITC would do everything in its power to support Cheetah.
The Cheetah Cement plant is the country’s second homegrown producer after another operation based in Mahalapye.