Africa-Press – Tanzania. DANGOTE Cement Tanzania is planning to increase output by over 30 per cent next year to capitalise on the expansion of Mtwara port.
The Mtwara-base plant said the plan is to up cement production from the current 1.8 million tonnes per year to 2.4 million tonnes banking on using the modernising port to transport its consignment by linking with Dar es Salaam port.
The plant has installed capacity of producing 3.0 million tonnes of cement a year.
The Dangote Tanzania Chief Executive Officer, Mr Abdullahi Baba, made the revelation here saying the increase of production was set to ensure stable supply of the products to Dar es Salaam and other regions in the country.
Mr Baba made the revelation before Mtwara Regional Commissioner, Brigadier General Marco Gaguti who had paid a visit at the plant to see the progress of the cement production.
The RC commended the Dangote management for the plans of increasing production in order to use Mtwara port in transportation of products to various parts in the country.
“I commend Dangote for dedicating resources and efforts in ensuring huge investment in production of cement vital for building our infrastructures and also using Mtwara port in transportation of the products to various regions in our country,” he said.
The RC said use of the port in transporting the cement to other regions in the country would help avail price competition in the market.
Brig Gen Gaguti also asked the management Dangote to expand cement market produced in Mtwara to outside the country taking advantage of Mtwara port.
Currently, Dangote is using Dar port on shipping cement to Zanzibar and Comoro.
The plant in Mtwara – about 400km from Dar es Salaam – was commissioned in late 2015 and is the largest cement factory in the country.
With about 500 million tonnes of limestone reserves, enough for 149 years, the plant is capable of producing large amounts of high-quality 32.5 and 42.5 grade cements to meet local market needs at competitive prices, as well as surrounding export markets by sea.
Tanzania’s per-capita cement consumption is around 50kilogramme per annum well below the global average and low even for Africa.
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