German cement company HeidelbergCement will set up a clinker plant and a cement grinding facility in Togo
The US$250mn clinker plant will have an annual capacity of 1.5mn tonnes and will be located in the town of Tabligbo, 80km north-east of the country’s capital, Lomé.
The company will also build a cement-grinding facility with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes in the Dapaong area. The two new plants are expected to start production in 2015.
Chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement, Bernd Scheifele, said, “The construction of the new clinker plant and the cement-grinding facility is part of our strategy of focusing on expanding our clinker and cement capacities in growing markets. In addition to Asia and eastern Europe, these include, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa.”
“As West Africa possesses only relatively small limestone deposits, the clinker required in cement production often has to be imported at high cost. Our clinker plant is of great strategic importance as it will source the limestone from its own deposits,” he added.
The company said that the clinker would be processed into cement in HeidelbergCement’s grinding mills in Togo as well as in the neighbouring countries of Benin, Ghana and Burkina Faso, replacing clinker that was previously imported from overseas.
HeidelbergCement added that the investment project would stimulate the improvement of local infrastructure and housing, and was expected to create around 1,300 jobs locally.
