AFRICA: NIGERIA: Dangote Group Plans Rail Lines From Factories to Reduce Cement Cost

THE Dangote Group has revealed it will soon construct rail tracks from all its cement factories to the national railway to reduce transportation and cost of the product.

Mr. Akin Adesokan, the Managing Director of Dangote Cement Terminal in Lagos, disclosed this on Sunday when he conducted distributors round the Dangote Cement Factory in Ibese in Ogun.

He said the project was necessary because the cost of transporting bulky goods such as cement in the country was still a challenge.

Adesokan said Dangote would also establish a vessel freight to boost the exportation of goods to the Economic Com- munity of West African States (ECOWAS) markets.

He said the move was to forge a strong bilateral trade relation- ship among the ECOWAS member-countries. Adesokan said with the vessel freight, the movement of goods outside and within the country would reduce the cost of haulage and the product.

'The challenge is taking our goods from the factory to the ports, and since there is no railway system, it makes transportation of bulky goods burdensome,' he said.

The official said Dangote had invested heavily on haulage because the company has bought over 2,000 trucks to distribute cement to all depots in the country.

'This is our own Corporate Social Responsibility and no other company has done this.

'The price will definitely come down because the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has the interest of Nigerians at heart.

'He wants to bring down the price of cement to the barest minimum so that everybody can afford it.' 'The factory in Ibese has the capacity to produce six million tonnes of cement per annum and it is to bring cement to every part of the South-West region.

'Before now, we cannot bring cement from Obajana down to the South-West. But, with this factory now, it will be a thing of the past.'

'From Ibese, we can take cement to Ibadan, Oyo, Ogun and all other parts of the South West region,' he said.

Adesokan said he took cement distributors to the factory because he wanted them to see the extent of readiness of the factory.

He pointed out that the demand for cement in the country was currently about 17 million metric tonnes annually but envisaged that the demand would increase this year.

The official assured that the Ibese factory would be completed this month, while the first batch of production would follow immediately.

A distributor with the Ifelodun Cement Dealers Association, Ewekoro, Mr. Abodunrin Matthew, called on the Federal Government to address the issue of transportation infrastructure in the country.

'What we need from the government are good roads, because there is a shortcut to the Ibese factory through Papa to Lagos-Ibadan expressway.'

'The government has to support local manufacturing companies like Dangote for it to help the country stop the importation of some goods into the country,' Matthew said.

Another distributor, the Chief Executive Officer of David Excellence Nigeria Limited, Mr.Ade Shaleye, advised that Dangote company must put in place infrastructure. He said this would help to make its goods available to distributors at less cost.