By Cynthia Ezekwe
Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) has signed an agreement with China Sinoma International Engineering company, to establish a six million tonnes per annum cement plant in Itori, Ogun State.
Aliko Dangote, the chairman of Dangote Cement Plc, signed the agreement alongside Devakumar Edwin, the group executive director, strategy, capital projects & portfolio development of DIL,and Yin Zhisong, the group president of China Sinoma engineering company, alongside Liu Renyue the company’s chairman.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dangote disclosed that the new integrated cement plant will increase the local production capacity of Dangote Cement, bringing its local capacity to 41.25 million tons per annum and total African capacity to 57.6 million tons per annum.
According to Dangote, the Itori cement plant will boost Nigeria’s cement export capacity, and pave the way for economic diversification as well as foreign exchange (FX) inflows.
Speaking on the benefits that will be accrued from the project, the industrialist stated that the new construction which is in line with Dangote Group’s vision of producing locally goods that were formerly imported despite the abundance of raw materials for local production of such goods will develop the domestic economy through the creation of thousands of indirect and direct jobs, adding that it will also drive economic development in the Itori axis.
He further noted that ancillary businesses will be drawn to the Itori axis, as they will leverage on the advantage of selling goods and offering services to staff,contractors, and other stakeholders in charge of the cement plant.
“We are comfortable working with your company. You have handled some of our key projects and I am positive that this project will be completed as scheduled,” he said.
On his part, Zhisong, China Sinoma group president expressed his delight over the commitment and determination of the Dangote Group in building cement plants across Africa.
He said, “it is an honour for us to build another cement plant for Dangote Group. We are proud and happy to be on this journey with the company again.”
The cement plant is projected to be fully established within 27 months, with top notch equipment in the cement industry, sourced from Europe’s major equipment suppliers, and will have its own captive power plant to generate electric power for use by cement kilns and other production processes.
The Itori Cement Plant will be Dangote Cement’s fourth cement plant constructed as a green field project in Nigeria,with others being Obajana, Ibese and Okpella Plants.
