GCM to build 0.64Mta plant in Burkina Faso

General Community Management (GCM) Industries has started the construction of a 0.64Mta cement plant on a 7ha plot in the industrial zone of Kossodo, Burkina Faso. The first stone was laid in a ceremony led by the country’s Minister of Commerce and Industry, Harouna Kaboré, on 26 January 2021, according to Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina.

The project, which has the option to expand capacity to 1.2Mta, represents an investment of XOF73.9bn (US$136.6m). The project has benefitted from the country’s new investment legislation and tax breaks.

GCM Industries’ plant is the fifth in Burkina Faso and expected to come online in the next 13 months. It will employ around 700 people in its export phase.

Before his concluding remarks, Mr Kaboré invited the plant’s management team to step up consultations with the government to reduce the cost of cement in Burkina Faso. "It is good that we increase the production capacity, but it is good that we therefore lower the price of cement so that it is more accessible to people," he said.