China National Building Materials (CNBM) - January 2019

Sinoma International, which merged with China National Building Materials (CNBM) last year, has been given the go-ahead to construct a US$1bn cement plant in Tanga. The Tanzanian Investment Centre granted permits to Sinoma, and its subsidiary Hengya Cement Co Ltd, for both the cement plant and a 1.2GW power station. Once completed, the cement plant will have a 7Mta production capacity with 30 per cent of output intended for the domestic market and the remainder for export. The project was first announced back in 2017 but failed to come to fruition.

According to Hengya, the Tanga project marks the start of a three-year plan to develop the largest construction materials park in east Africa, including a dedicated terminal for the importing of raw materials and export of finished goods. For Sinoma, it is the latest move in its overseas expansion plan, which also saw it sign a deal last month to build a US$480m cement plant in Zambia. Overseas activities are believed to have accounted for over 80 per cent of the company’s revenue in the opening half of 2018.