HeidelbergCement inaugurates Scantogo clinker plant, Togo

HeidelbergCement inaugurated the 1.5Mta new greenfield Scantogo clinker plant in Togo on 6 March 2015. The new US$250m plant is located at Tabligbo, some 80km north east of the capital city Lomé.

More than 2000 guests attended the ceremony, among them the president of the Republic of Togo, the president of the National Assembly and the German ambassador in Togo. With the Scantogo investment, HeidelbergCement has become the largest German foreign investor in Togo.

The new US$250m greenfield Scantogo clinker plant will supply clinker to HeidelbergCement’s west African

cement grinding mills in Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Ghana

On the previous day, HeidelbergCement inaugurated the new 0.8Mta Cimburkina cement grinding plant in Burkina Faso, the neighbouring country of Togo to the north. The US$50m facility is located near the capital city Ouagadougou. More than 400 guests were in attendance, including the minister of Industry and Commerce, the representative of the minister of Economy and Finance, the local representative of the Emperor of the Mossi people as well as a number of traditional chiefs and religious leaders.

“The new greenfield facilities are part of our strategy of expanding our cement capacities in growth markets. In addition to Asia these include, in particular, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa”, said Dr Bernd Scheifele, chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement who attended both inauguration ceremonies together with Mr. Daniel Gauthier, member of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement responsible for Africa, and the General Management of the HeidelbergCement Africa team, including the respective country managers. 

Ribbon cutting ceremony at Scantogo works

Reducing import reliance
“The new clinker plant in Togo will greatly improve our competitiveness by enabling us to replace expensive clinker imports by local sourcing. The clinker from Togo will also be used in our new grinding plant close to Ouagadougou to produce cement for the local construction industry in Burkina Faso. Our new plants are strengthening our position in both countries as well as in the whole region.”

Scantogo will supply clinker to HeidelbergCement’s West African cement grinding mills in Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Ghana, partly replacing clinker that has previously been imported from overseas.

HeidelbergCement has been present in Togo since 1984 with the Cimtogo grinding works in Lomé. Scantogo directly employs some 200 people and the new operation will also create around 1000 additional jobs locally, according to HeidelbergCement. It will significantly contribute to domestic cement production and local infrastructure development. Exports from Scantogo will provide Togo with important currency inflows, HeidelbergCement added.

HeidelbergCement has also recently started to build a 0.25Mta cement capacity greenfield grinding plant in the Kara region in the northern part of Togo, which will be ready by 2017.

IFC, a branch of the World Bank, is partially funding Scantogo. The Togolese Government will hold 10 per cent of Scantogo.

HeidelbergCement added that the Cimburkina works (pictured below, along with the plant's ribbon cutting ceremony) will stimulate the improvement of local infrastructure and housing by providing quality cement, and is expected to create around 100 jobs at the plant, and more than 300 indirect jobs.