Chad Prime Minister, Pahimi Padacké Albert, has laid the first stone for the country's second cement plant. The new works will be located in the southwest, at Ngara. Production capacity in the first year is reported to be 0.5Mt, with an option to upgrade to 1Mta.

It is forecast that construction works, carried out by a Chinese contractor, will take 12 months and carry a XOF30bn (US$60m) price tag.

The new plant will support the country’s cement requirement and follows the unit currently operational at Baoré, which is also located near the Cameroon border. The Baoré unit produces 0.2Mta, well below the market demand of over 0.7Mta.