RSSHeidelberg Cement is constructing a new US$ 250 million clinker plant with an annual capacity of 1.5 million tonnes in the Tongan town of Tabligbo, some 80km north-east of the capital, Lomé.
The company is also building a new cement grinding facility with a capacity of 200,000tonnes in Dapaong.
“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 growth markets. In addition to Asia and Eastern Europe, these include, in particular, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa,” said Dr. Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the managing board of HeidelbergCement. He continued: “As West Africa possesses only relatively small limestone deposits, the clinker required in cement production often has to be imported at high cost. Our new clinker plant is of great strategic importance as it sources the limestone from its own deposits.”
The clinker will be processed to cement in HeidelbergCement’s grinding mills in Togo, as well as in the neighbouring countries of Benin, Ghana, and Burkina Faso, replacing clinker that has previously been imported from overseas, thereby strengthening HeidelbergCement’s competitiveness in Africa.
HeidelbergCement said the investment project will improve local infrastructure and housing and is expected to create around 1,300 jobs locally, of which more than 200 at the plants.
The project is conducted within the framework of a partnership between HeidelbergCement and IFC, a member of the
Commissioning of the two new plants is scheduled for 2015.
