Friday, January 04, 2008

Nigerian company plans to invest $50m in cement, oil

Nigerian company plans to invest $50m in cement, oil
By Chiwoyu Sinyangwe and Joan Chirwa
Friday January 04, 2008 [03:00]

A Nigerian company has declared interest to invest US$50 million (about K190 billion) in cement manufacturing and oil explorations in the country, according to commerce permanent secretary Davidson Chilipamushi. And cement prices in Lusaka have remained at an average of K70,000 per 50 kilogramme pocket, following the increasing demand for the commodity.

Chilipamushi, in an interview, could not, however, mention the name of the company but stressed that institution’s profile looked firm.

“They have shown interest to invest in various sectors of the economy which include setting up a cement plant manufacturing plant and in mineral explorations,” Chilipamushi said. “It would be premature for me to give you the name of the company at the moment but all I can say is they look a well established company in Nigeria.”

Chilipamushi said the company proposed to set up a cement plant that would produce twice as much as the current production capacity of manufacturing companies in the country.

He said representatives from the company had already met officials from the Ministry of Commerce and that the matter was currently being handled by the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA).

“We discussed with them when they came here and we were satisfied that their offer looks quite serious and we are very positive about it,” Chilipamushi said. “Right now, relevant authorities like the ZDA are looking at the matter, but all in all we are talking about an investment of not less than US$50 million.”

And a survey conducted in selected outlets around Lusaka revealed that prices of cement have stabilised at around K70,000, from the recommended price of around K45,000. This follows the increasing demand for the commodity as a result of the growing construction sector.

In order to accommodate the high demand for cement, Lafarge Cement Zambia – formerly Chilanga Cement Plc – embarked on an expansion programme which will see the plant producing around 2,000 metric tonnes of cement per day.

Zambia currently produces around 680,000 metric tonnes, with Lafarge Cement accounting for the largest production of 650,000 metric tonnes while the newly constructed Oriental Quarries’ capacity is about 100 metric tonnes per day.

The completion of the Zambezi Portland Cement plant in Ndola will increase the country’s cement production capacity when it starts operations on its 1,000 tonnes per day factory.

Meanwhile, Chilipamushi said it was good that as Africa continued to post good indicators for economic growth, intra-continental trade was enhanced.

He said it was good that Africans were now taking a lead in enhancing investment within the continent.

“This is also good for intra-Africa trade. It is good to see that investments in the continent are being spearheaded by the Africans themselves,” said Chilipamushi. “With the positive outlook the continent is recording, it is important that the surplus income we use it for investing in each other’s country rather than externalising everything.”

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1 Comments:

At 12:41 AM , Blogger ujoh said...



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