AFRICA: MOZAMBIQUE: New Cement Plant to Be Built in Magude Next Year

The construction of a new cement plant in Magude district, in the southern province of Maputo, will begin next year according to the provincial director of Trade and Industry, Fanieta Manjate.

Initially, the construction work had been scheduled to start in June, reports the daily newspaper "Diario de Mocambique".

Budgeted at 78 million US dollars, the project is being developed by the Chinese company "Africa Great Wall Cement Manufacturer".

The factory will be built in Chichuo, about 11 kilometres from Magude, covering an area of 80 hectares. The region has huge limestone deposits, which is one of the key ingredients of cement.

According to Manjate, the company is currently mobilising equipment and building houses to accommodate the staff who will be involved in developing the project.

Manjate stated that the Environmental Impact Study has already been approved, and families living in the area are being relocated to make way for the development of the project.

The plant will have the capacity to produce up to 500,000 tonnes of cement per year when it starts operating at the end of 2012 or early 2013.

With this plant, the number of cement factories set up by Chinese investors will rise to three.

A cement factory at Salamanga, in the southernmost district of Matutuine, in Maputo province, is currently under construction at a cost of 72 million dollars. The Salamanga factory is also located in an area with massive limestone deposits, and is expected to produce about 800,000 tonnes of cement per year.

The third factory, GS Cement, will have the capacity to produce 550,000 tonnes of Portland cement. This factory will be developed at the industrial park in Boane with an investment of 100 million dollars.

The country's largest producer of cement, Cimentos de Mocambique, is currently upgrading its factories in Matola, Dondo and Nacala, to double production.

Along with the proposed new factory in Sofala province, the country's cement production could jump from the current level of 1.3 million tonnes per year to reach four million tonnes per year by 2013.

The significant expansion of cement production capacity in Mozambique is in response to the growing demand for building materials in the country.