PPC said it would spend US$80m on a cement mill in Harare, Zimbabwe, to be commissioned in 2016.

The new mill, to be funded by a corporate loan, is expected to boost operating efficiencies. The company is planning to close less efficient mills at its Bulawayo factory.

Last year, PPC announced it would also construct a clinker plant in Mt Darwin in northern Zimbabwe and a cement mill in Tete province, Mozambique.

Market slowdown
In an interim trading statement released earlier this week, PPC said a slowdown in the Zimbabwean economy has led to muted domestic growth in cement sales. Increased efforts to export product from Zimbabwe to neighbouring countries boosted cement sales volumes from its operations over the first half of the current fiscal.

However, PPC chief executive Ketso Gordhan noted noted that there is huge potential in revamping Zimbabwe’s infrastructure and addressing significant related bottlenecks. Under the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, the government has devised a programme which includes an 'Infrastructure Cluster' focussed on the rehabilitation, upgrading and development of key infrastructure and utilities comprising power generation, roads, rail, aviation and water.