Dangote Kicks-Off $400m Zambia Cement Plant Construction
Zambian President, Rupiah Bwezani Banda
By Crusoe Osagie
Nigerian Conglomerate, Dangote Industries Limited, has extended the frontier of its businesses in Africa with the launch, last weekend, of a new $400million dollar cement manufacturing plant in Zambia.
According to a statement made available to THISDAY, the ground-breaking ceremony in Masaiti near Ndola, Zambia’s manufacturing hub, witnessed by top government officials, ministers, and business leaders, was performed by Zambian President, Rupiah Bwezani Banda, who called on other African entrepreneurs to direct their investment to African countries.
Basking in the euphoria of the citing of the company in his country, Banda disclosed that the new plant - with an investment outlay of $400 million - is the largest in Zambia and would to a great extent help his government in the task of job creation and poverty alleviation.
The plant when completed, is expected to produce 1.5 million tonnes of cement annually, and will provide direct jobs for over 1000 unemployed Zambians, with additional 6,000 indirect jobs for the locals.
Banda, who led a delegation of top Zambian government officials, private sector operators as well as traditional rulers to the ceremony, lauded the doggedness of Dangote for believing in the economy of African countries with the establishment of his businesses across the African continent.
According to him, the Zambian government would do all to ensure safe and conducive operating environment for the plant, while assuring the people of Zambia that the high profile of the Dangote Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) would be made to bear on the host communities.
Already, the President said Dangote Cement had earmarked significant amount of money for development activities such as pipe borne water, schools, hospitals and other social amenities.
“Zambia, indeed welcomes your decision to invest here as one of the continent’s top global multi-national corporations. This is the largest investment into Zambia by a Nigerian company. I am glad to also note that besides the employment opportunities being created, the project will greatly benefit the people of Masaiti and the surrounding districts through transfer of technology and skills,” he said.
In his response, the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said the ceremony was a follow up to the Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) signed last December, between the Dangote Industries Limited and the Government of Zambia, adding that the investment would further strengthen the bilateral relations between Nigeria and the Zambia.
He said the IPPA is a requirement for investors in Zambia, which offers incentives and safeguards their investments against any future changes in legislation.
Dangote assured the Zambian government of the timely completion of the plant, which will make Zambia the 10th country where the company has invested in cement manufacturing in line with its pan-African drive.
He explained that going by projections, the cement plant with an installed capacity of 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum, will be up and running within 27 months and will therefore, likely come on stream by mid-2013.
In his words, “our choice of Zambia for this multi-million dollar investment is quite strategic. Last year, the World Bank named Zambia as one of the world's fastest economically reforming countries. Earlier this month, the World Bank reclassified Zambia as a middle-income country, along with Ghana. The World Bank attributed the upward adjustment in Zambia’s income growth to foreign aid-driven interventions and surging prices of copper in the last few decades.
“I am informed that our investment in this sector, which is outside the traditional mining sector, ranks as one of the highest in this country to date. This, no doubt, is a significant milestone for us as a company. But we are even more excited with the fact that an African company is making this investment in a sister African country.
“This indeed, shows that Africa is gradually taking its destiny in its own hands rather than wait for investors from outside Africa. Investment in the real sector of the economy is the only way that our continent can achieve the much desired accelerated growth and development that we have yearned for,” he said.
Quoting a report by the McKinsey Global Institute issued in June 2010, which revealed that Africa required at least $46 billion in spending annually to meet infrastructural needs, Dangote said it was obvious that African governments alone could not hope to meet this demand due to the various competing needs in other aspects of the economy and therefore private companies are needed tocomplement the government’s efforts.
“It is in this light that we have decided to invest in Zambia.
We are motivated to create an African success story because we believe that entrepreneurship, especially our own home-grown African entrepreneurship, holds the key to the future economic growth of the continent. The fact that Africa offers one of the highest returns on investment (ROI) in the world is an additional incentive for any discerning investor, who can take calculated risks,” he said.
“While we are in business of creating wealth primarily, we are also mindful of the need to touch lives of people. As a company, we have always been conscious of the need to give a little of our profits back to the society as a guarantee for sustainable business success. This has been our guiding business philosophy,” he added.
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