Derba MIDROC Cement Plc, Ethiopia’s biggest cement factory, was inaugurated on Sunday in the presence of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and other invited guests.

The US$351m plant was built by the MIDROC Ethiopia group owned by Mohammed al-Amoudi, an Ethiopian-born Saudi Arabian billionaire who is one of the biggest investors in Ethiopia.

Derba MIDROC located about 70km northwest of the capital, Addis Ababa, near Chanch town of Oromia State will produce 8000tpd of cement.

Al-Amoudi’s company invested US$100m in the operation, with the European Investment Bank, the African Development Bank, the International Finance Corp. and the Development Bank of Ethiopia providing the rest of the funds, local press reported.

The Derba plant will add 2.5Mta to Ethiopia’s cement capacity base while expansions to Mesobo Building Materials Production Plc and state-owned Mugher Cement Enterprise will add another 1Mt.