Tanzania: There's No Cement Shortage - Minister

 By Bernard Lugongo

THE government has dismissed reports of a shortage of cement in the local market, assuring that

current production of the product was quite good.

Industry and Trade Minister Innocent Bashungwa gave the assurance yesterday in response to reports circulating in social domains that supply of the cement was low, leading to hiked prices of the product.

Mr Bashungwa said according to speculations, the prices increased because importation of raw materials and spare parts for industrial machineries was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said other suppliers reasoned that the downfalls last July had affected transportation of the products due to damaged infrastructures.

His statement came after visiting Tanzania Portland Cement Company (TPCC) in Dar es Salaam, branding as Twiga cement, at which he established that the company's production was sustained and continued selling their products at their normal prices.

However, he quickly hinted that agents of cement industries were inflating the prices for wrong reasons for their benefits.

In fact, because cement production was stable, the prices set by Twiga Cement decreased from 210,000/- per tonne of bulk cement in 2013 to 147,000/- currently.

"I want you to deal with your suppliers who sell the product at higher prices, otherwise if we (government) catch those agents we will also implicate you in that criminal conduct," he told the Twiga Cement Company management.

The minister said he would proceed with his tour to other industries over the same purpose.

He challenged the cement manufacturers to take advantage of the growing market in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) by producing surpluses.

Currently, the country's demand for cement stands at 6 million metric tonnes, up from 3 million metric tonnes in 2003. The increase was a result of mainly population increase and growth of the construction sector.

Local industries have a maximum capacity of producing over 10 million metric tonnes altogether, if fully optimized, thus being able to sell the surplus.

Addressing the minister, the company's Senior Commercial Manager, Eng Danford Semwenda, explained that their company currently exported to neighbouring Rwanda, Burundi and others.

The company increased its production over the past five years by 27 per cent and looks forward to investing more in increasing its capacity.

According to Eng Semwenda, the company will inject about 105bn/- for that investment in the next five years since the German shareholders have agreed to invest that money.

During this year and next year, the company is expecting to pump in over 65bn/- for that purpose.

The envisaged investment is expected to make the company produce 300,000 tonnes a year.

The company has also expressed Tanzania's investment atmosphere as friendly, noting that the country was heading in the right direction due to many ongoing projects that benefit people.