Nyusi inaugurates Cabo Delgado cement factory – Mozambique

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Nyusi inaugurates Cabo Delgado cement factory – Mozambique

8:41 CAT | 24 Oct 2016

presidencia.gov.mz / President Nyusi on Friday at the cement factory inauguration in Metuge, Cabo Delgado province

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Friday inaugurated a new cement factory in Metuge district, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

The factory, the first of its kind in Cabo Delgado, is the fruit of Chinese investment of about 24 million US dollars, and has the capacity to produce 250,000 tonnes of cement a year. The cement produced here has been baptized with the name “African Elephant”, and the standard 25 kilogram sack bears a picture of an elephant.

The new factory is expected to reduce considerably the price of cement on the Cabo Delgado market. New construction work in the province means that cement is in great demand.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Nyusi said the new factory will increase the country’s overall production by six percent, and production in the northern provinces by over 67 per cent. With a cement factory operating in the province, the President was confident that the cost of building houses will fall “which is an important indicator of improving the quality of life and of human development”.

Nyusi stressed that the factory is using local raw material (limestone mined in Cabo Delgado), and the only imported ingredient is clinker. It is hoped that eventually clinker too will be produced in Mozambique.

Nyusi wanted to see the advantages of the new factory “reflected in the real cost of the product, free of speculation”.

He recalled that the government’s industrial policy and strategy for the 2016-2025 period stressed non-metallic minerals (such as limestone) as one of the priority sectors to be developed, seeking to maximise business linkages, create jobs and reduce dependence on imports.

The contribution of the cement industry to Mozambique’s overall production rose from six per cent in 2011 to 10 per cent in 2015. Over the same period the number of cement factories in the country more than doubled, rising from five to 11, with an installed capacity to produce more than four million tonnes a year. About 72 per cent of the cement used in Mozambique now comes from domestic production.

But six of these factories are in Maputo province, while the other five are in Sofala and Nampula provinces.

“The fact that two more cement factories are under construction in Maputo province, and several other projects are under study, including for the central and northern provinces, strengthens our conviction that the day is not far off when everything that we build in the country will use cement produced in Mozambique”, said Nyusi.

He added that the government is particularly interested in installing a cement factory in Niassa province, where transport costs make cement very expensive, and thus hinder the construction industry.

During the construction of the Metuge factory 400 jobs were created for Mozambicans, mostly recruited locally. In the production phase, the factory will employ 67 Mozambicans working alongside Chinese technical staff.

Source: AIM