Africa-Press – Mozambique. Construction work on the Chinese-owned cement plant in Chinbunila district, Niassa province, will resume this month. The venture, which was suspended for three years because of Covid-19, is valued at US$20 million.
Silvano Bonomar, head of the Mineral Resources and Energy department at the Niassa Provincial Infrastructure Service Directorate, said the delay was due to the absence of specialist technicians of Chinese nationality who had gone home because of the pandemic.
According to Bonomar, the project’s managers also reported financial difficulties to the provincial government, which required the restructuring of the financing and shareholder structure.
Bonomar said that the Chinese-owned company had given assurances that the process of restructuring the investment and shareholder structure had already been completed, Notícias reports. He added that the resumption of work on the undertaking was scheduled for the end of this month (August).
When in operation, the cement manufacturing plant will provide around 500 jobs, mainly for local youth.
“Construction of the new cement plant, which will contribute to the dynamism of the civil construction industries and the socio-economic development of the country, is currently about 90% complete, and may be finished by December,” Bonomar stressed.
The inauguration of the plant, which will have a production capacity of around 200,000 tons of Portland cement per year, is scheduled for the first quarter of 2023, when it will come into operation on an experimental basis.
The source pointed out that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation issued a favourable response to the request addressed by Niassa government authorities for the authorization of entry to Mozambique of a dozen Chinese technical specialists attached to the enterprise.
A large part of the raw material for the manufacture of Portland cement, namely limestone, clay and coal, will be extracted locally from deposits located in the districts of Lago and Sanga.
Construction cement in Niassa, which currently costs 600 meticais per 50 kilogram bag, is produced in Cabo Delgado and Nampula. The high price constitutes the main barrier to the development of the construction industry in Niassa, local government authorities say.
Watch the video below on the October 2017 inauguration of the cement plant works in Chimbunila.
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