TPCC operations reportedly suspended

Tanzania’s National Environment Management Council (NEMC) has indefinitely suspended operations by the country’s largest cement producer Tanzania Portland Cement Co (TPCC) due to concerns on dust emissions, according to local press reports.

The NEMC reached the decision to suspend plants operations following complaints from local residents who claimed that dust emissions from the plant were causing health problems. 

Heche Suguta, NEMC senior legal officer, told The Citizen that the factory is also being required to pay a TZS50m penalty. Suguta added that TPCC will be allowed to resume operations once steps have been taken to mitigate the problem and the fine has been paid to the government body, he noted.  Suguta said the penalty imposed should be settled within seven days.

In response, TPCC managing director and area manager for East Africa, Alfonso Rodriguez, stressed that the dust was coming from an old unit following a technical fault from a newer plant. The company has ordered a new filter which may take a month to arrive in the country, he said.