ARM Rwanda operations hinged on suit outcome

An employee of ARM Cement packages cement at the firm's Athi River plant in Kenya. PHOTO |FILE  

In Summary

• The Rwanda Enterprise Investment Company seeks to auction assets of ARM’s Rwanda subsidiary, Kigali Cement Company, over a disputed $600,000 debt dating back to 2008.

By KABONA ESIARA
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The outcome of a case before the Supreme Court in Kigali will determine whether ARM Cement will stay in the Rwandan market.

The Rwanda Enterprise Investment Company seeks to auction assets of ARM’s Rwanda subsidiary, Kigali Cement Company, over a disputed $600,000 debt dating back to 2008.

ARM disputes the debt, saying that the loan, whose interest has been accumulating over the years, was transferred to an account of an entity known as Kigali Cement Corporation which, according to the Registrar of companies Rwanda Development Board, it was non-existent.

While operations at the Kigali Cement Company have been on and off in the past two years due to the ongoing court case and interruption of raw material supply from its mines in Tanga, Tanzania, it says in its five-year plan that it will restructure its balance sheet and expand in the Great Lakes region, with an annual 200,000-tonne capacity increase in Rwanda.

For two years, the company has not been producing cement on a regular basis and to capacity due to low supply of clinker in the Tanga plant, where production was impacted by a coal import ban by the John Magufuli administration.

But ARM managing director Pradeep Paunrana told The EastAfrican that the situation has now improved and Kigali Cement Company will soon resume operations with an expanded capacity.