Lafarge Zimbabwe invests US$25m to improve utilisation

LafargeHolcim group has unveiled a US$25m investment programme to increase utilisation at its subsidiary Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe.

However, Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe said the holding group has called on the government to stabilise the availability of electricity and resolve foreign currency issues as these are key determinants to its expansion drive.

Milajan Gutovic, LafargeHolcim regional head of the Middle East and Africa group executive committee, said during a meeting with President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, that: "strategic commitments were made by the LafargeHolcim group including a commitment to continue to support the growth of the Zimbabwean economy."

"This is in-line with an initial US$25m, three-pronged expansion project at Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe that has been approved by the group," the company said in a statement.

"Initiatives under the expansion project will include: additional cement capacity, additional capacity for agricultural lime and automation of the dry mortar plant.

"The government of Zimbabwe has accorded national project status to the expansion project earmarked for 2019-2020."

Shortages in supply were the result of unplanned plant downtime as major breakdowns occurred at Lafarge Zimbabwe's cement plants which affected output, according to the report in local newspaper The Standard.