Africa-Press – Tanzania. A BURUNDI firm Intracom is finalising process to set up mega cement and clinker factories in Kigoma Region. Intracom, with another investment in fertiliser factory in Dodoma and Manyara is planning to spend 250 million US dollars (about 575bn/-) in cement and clinker production.
The envisaged state-ofthe-art cement and clinker factories will be the largest in the region and will ease demand of cement to regions along Lake Tanganyika and neighbouring countries of Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The Intracom Country Representative, Mr Rubenga Samson, told the ‘Daily News’ that to the two factories for cement and clinker will be ready for operations in two years’ time. “We have already obtained land in Kigoma and the construction will start soon,” Mr Samson said.
“And once completed, the twin factories will create some 10,000 direct and indirect jobs,” he said.
The twin factories will be the largest single employer in three regions namely Kigoma, Katavi and Rukwa. According to Intracom, the cement factory will have a capacity to produce 600,000 metric tonnes a year and 1.0million tonnes of clinker annually.
“The main cement customers are in Kigoma and we will export to countries around the Lake Tanganyika corridor,” Mr Samson said. For the clinker, the investor said the entire production is partly for their cement factory and the rest for export to Burundi and DR-Congo. Tanzania’s Ambassador to Burundi Dr Jilly Maleko said Intracom is a serious investor and the cement investment is the second project in the country.
“I am tipped that they will again use CRDB loan facility to implement the project,” Dr Maleko told the ‘Daily News’. Intracom also invested 400bn/- in fertiliser production in Dodoma to produce some 600,000 tonnes of fertiliser and 300,000 tonnes of limestone annually. Upon the completion of the project next month, it envisaged to end import dependence on fertilisers.
The nearest cement in that area is Mbeya Cement, a LafargeHolcim subsidiary, producing 1.1 tonnes a year under Tembo brand-name. Tanzania’s cement production reached 6.5 million tonnes last year up by 16 per cent from 5.9 tonnes in 2020. Tanzania’s largest cement producers are Tanzania Portland Cement (Twiga), Tanga Cement (Simba), and Dangote Cement.
For More News And Analysis About Tanzania Follow Africa-Press
