In Tanzania, HeidelbergCement is constructing a new mill with a cement capacity of 0.7Mta at its Wazo Hill plant, some 2km northwest of the capital Dar es Salaam. The investment of US$40m also includes the construction of a new clinker and a cement silo as well as the installation of new cement bag packing and dispatch facilities.

“The construction of the new cement mill is part of our strategy of expanding our clinker and cement capacities in growth markets. In particular, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa feature a very attractive growth potential due to the early stage of industrialisation and the raw material deposits,” said Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement. “The cement plant in Tanzania is our bridgehead in East Africa. We recently modernised one of the older kilns and increased the clinker capacity by 250,000tpa.  We are now constructing a new mill to secure our leading position in the country and maintain a good balance between our clinker and cement capacities.”

By setting up adequate capacity to better serve the growing market in Dar es Salaam as well as Tanzania at large, HeidelbergCement aims at maintaining its competitive edge in this region.

Commissioning of the new mill is scheduled for late-2014. Once commissioned, Tanzania Portland Cement Company (TPCC), a subsidiary of HeidelbergCement, will have a total cement capacity of 2Mta.