ZIMBABWE: PPC plans second Zimbabwe plant

PPC is on track to commission its second cement manufacturing plant in Zimbabwe in the second half of next year.

The listed cement and lime producer is building its new 700 000 tons-a-year plant at Msasa near Harare at a cost of $80 million (R1.02 billion).

Speaking at the ground-breaking event, Njombo Lekula, the managing director of PPC, said this week at the site for the new PPC Msasa plant that it was being built in direct response to the opportunity PPC saw in and beyond this region.

PPC has a target of generating 40 percent of its total revenue from outside South Africa by 2017, compared with about 28 percent now. Including its second Zimbabwe plant, PPC has four cement manufacturing plant projects in Africa. The other projects are in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia.

Lekula said the investment PPC was making in the Msasa plant was a vote of confidence in Zimbabwe’s future and an expression of its commitment to build, grow and contribute meaningfully to the national economy while delivering on local imperative.

“PPC Zimbabwe is looking to the future of the country, with today’s event providing a promise of things to come. While our existing factory in Bulawayo has positioned us well in Matabeleland, it’s clear that much of our country’s future growth centres around Harare and northern Zimbabwe,” he said.

Lekula said the Msasa plant was being built to world class standards and would feature bulk-handling and palletising capabilities, such as those introduced at the Bulawayo factory. The plant is being built by China’s Sinoma International Engineering.

But Lekula said PPC was engaging with numerous local suppliers to leverage the scope of opportunities on this project beyond the main engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) agreement.

“Because almost 70 percent of the total value of the EPCM is allocated to the supply of actual plant equipment, it was necessary for us to contract with a provider of the likes of Sinoma to ensure we create a world class plant in and for the region.

“Sinoma has contracted local labour as part of its workforce on the project, as well as meeting our non negotiable local supply requirements,” he said.

Key player

Lekula added that local contractors, including JR Goddard Construction, Ascon-Tencraft and HVC, had already worked on the project. He said PPC Zimbabwe was already a key player in the large infrastructure projects that were under way in the country and working hard to be involved in those still in the planning phase.

“As Zimbabwe’s largest producer of ordinary Portland cement and the only producer of 42.5 cement, we are ideally positioned to play a leading role in developing the country’s infrastructure. We have the equipment, processes and tanker fleet in place and are thus able to handle the bulk deliveries that are vital to these big projects. As such, we see ourselves as providing not just cement but a total solution to our customers,” he said.

Shares in PPC fell 0.27 percent yesterday to R22.04.