PPC building on African legacy

CEMENT giant PPC’s investment in Habesha‚ the fledgling Ethiopian cement company‚ appears to be setting a solid foundation for future growth.

PPC’s just-released annual report disclosed that construction at Habesha’s 1.4 million tons-a-year plant was well under way with overall project progress estimated at 52%. The plant will serve the Addis Ababa market.

PPC said that civil construction at the plant was 45% complete and the mechanical erection of the plant had already started. About 90% of the equipment had been manufactured and 70% of this had been delivered to site.

The construction of

the plant was initially delayed by a lack of funding. But PPC chief executive Darryll Castle said that after a thorough review of the project‚ the full costs were now expected to come in between $170-million and $180-million (R2.5 to R2.7billion). “We believe this capital cost is relatively low considering that‚ on the continent‚ companies can expect to pay $300-million for a one million tons-per-annum plant.

“The [Ethiopian] government’s growth and transformation plan focuses on infrastructure development‚ industrialisation and housing to improve the country’s economy and raise GDP. This will underscore future cement demand.”

Castle said the plant was expected to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2017. Future development plans included an opportunity to double production capacity.

PPC’s African expansion strategy is built around targeting countries with high potential for infrastructure development‚ low per-capita cement consumption and cement shortages. It is also building plants in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe. — BDLive