Dangote Sinotruk automobile to enhance local content, provide more jobs

AS the budding automobile company, Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Limited, entered another phase in its expansion drive, by increasing its local input into the assembling plant to about 60 per cent, even as it plans to roll out commercial vehicles soon.

The expansion drive, which is part of the backward integration plan, is meant to enhance value addition and local content.

Group General Manager of the Company, Hikmat Thapa, made this known during a facility tour of the Ikeja plant by the Lagos State Commissioner of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Olayinka Oladunjoye.

He said having done with the phase one of the project, the Company has embarked on the phase two, which has to do with adding of the facility for cab welding, painting and trimming.

Thapa stated that the third phase of the project expansion would be to add the facility to fabricate, paint and assemble different type of trailer bodies, load bodies with dual and triple axles, tipper bodies and tankers and so on.

He explained that Dangote Sinotruck has installed capacity to assemble and produce 15-16 trucks per shift or 10,000 trucks annually, and will create over 3000 different jobs across Nigeria.

He said: “The company has the plan to have welding & painting shops to fabricate and paint truck cabin and trailers of different type so as to enhance local content of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) operation of commercial vehicle manufacturing,

“In next one year, we have on our agenda to assemble and fabricate truck cabins, different type of trailers, tipper bodies and tankers etc. in our plant to increase value additions up 40-60 per cent”