Dangote group opens 3rd cement factory

The cement factory built on the banks of the Wouri River by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote (an investment of 50 billion FCFA) will start production in the next few days and will also start selling its cement on the Cameroonian market within that timeframe. This was the assurance given by project head, Baba Abduhallï.

The latter indicated that the cement factory has already received raw materials, particularly clinker and gypsum as well as pozzolan produced from a 27-hectare quarry in Tombel (south-west region) that Dangote has been approved to mine for another 5 years.

Ahead of its production launch, the cement factory has been conducting tests on its equipment for several weeks now. With the start of activities, Dangote Cement Cameroon intends to produce 1.5 million tonnes of cement which will bring national production to approximately 3.6 million tonnes, including the 500,000 tonnes produced by Moroccan company Cimaf and Lafarge subsidiary Cimencam’s 1.6 million tonnes.

Initially slated to be launched in January 2014, then August, then October 2014, Cameroon’s 3rd cement factory has experienced delays which Dangote Group officials have attributed to “congestion at Douala Port, which slowed the import of equipment for the factory’s construction.”

At first, the Dangote cement factory will employ 77 Cameroonians, 11 expatriates and around 250 temporary workers each month.