HeidelbergCement invests US$250m in Togo

HeidelbergCement will invest US$250m in the building of a new clinker plant and a cement grinding unit in Togo. The new cement works, which will be located in Tabligbo, around 80km northeast of the Togo capital of Lome will have a capacity of 1.5Mta, while the new 0.2Mta grinding facilities will be constructed in Dapaong, 600km to the north. 

“The construction of the new clinker plant and the cement grinding facility is part of our strategy of focussing 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. “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 and thereby strengthening HeidelbergCement’s competitiveness in Africa.

The investment project will stimulate the improvement of 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 World Bank Group, and its finance partners.

Commissioning of the two new plants is scheduled for 2015. The capacity expansion in Togo is already included in HeidelbergCement’s capital expenditure plan.