THE Mtwara-based Dangote Cement Company has pledged to continue producing quality and affordable cement to enable low income earners to afford building decent houses.
Speaking in Arusha during the ARSO ‘Made
in Africa’ Expo, the Company Group Executive Director, SadaLadan Baki,
assured customers of availability of the construction material in the
market.
“Dangote produces various categories of
cement including the 32.5R brand which is sold at 10,000/- per 50
kilogramme bag while 42.5R is retailing at 10,500/- per bag. Both
products are now available in the market,” he explained.
With the affordable prices offered by
the firm, Mr Baki was hopeful that majority of Tanzanians will be in a
position to construct decent houses.
Available statistics indicate that there
is a shortage of three million housing in the market while high prices
for cement has been blamed for holding back people from building decent
houses.
“The investment made by Dangote Group in
the state of art cement plant in Mtwara is quite huge. The plant has
enough capacity to meet the demand of the local market while surplus
will be exported to neighboring countries in the region,” Mr Baki
explained.
According to industry sources, the
current demand for cement stands at three million tons per annum and yet
existing factories can produce 1.2 million tons of cement annually,
leading to a shortage of about 1.8 million tons each year.
Cement shortage has pushed prices high
as demand increases due to a booming construction industry, but a
significant number of potential consumers have stopped their projects as
a result of increased costs.
However, the coming of Dangote Cement is
expected to bring a major change in local cement industry production.
The $600 million state-of-the-art Dangote plant located in Mtwara Region
is the largest cement plant in sub-Saharan Africa.
A source from the Cement Manufacturers’
Association of Tanzania said the arrival of the Dangote Cement plant
would help to curb imports, but the lower prices applied by the company
would make other manufacturers to consider lowering the price as well
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