(Ecofin Agency) - The project could cut Cimaf’s clinker import expenses, push the company’s annual cement output to a million tons, and create around 2,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Cimaf Gabon is considering building a new clinker grinding unit in the Central African country. The facility could cost about $147.1 million to set up, according to the firm. The new clinker grinding facility should be built in Meba, within the Estuaire province.

Janah Idrissi El Mehdi, the Managing Director of Cimaf Gabon, disclosed the project's cost during a recent visit by the Minister of Industry, François Mbongo Rafemo Bourdette, to the company's headquarters. El Mehdi emphasized that the investment seeks to leverage the local industrial fabric, create employment opportunities, and stabilize cement prices.

Cimaf Gabon expects its cement output to reach a million tons per year with the new plant. The company currently produces 850,000 t of cement for a local demand estimated at 600,000 t per year.  "We currently import around 30 million euros worth of clinker. The idea behind this investment is to be able to enhance the local industrial fabric and at the same time enable job creation in the key, of the order of 1,500 jobs in the project phase, and then afterwards the equivalent of 500 jobs in the operating phase. And also in parallel a stabilization of cement prices", El Mehdi said. According to the executive, the plant was initially producing 500,000 t, but production was ramped up “to meet market demands and the government’s ambitions”.

According to the latest economic report from the Ministry of Economy, the cement production index declined by 14% in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the previous quarter. This downturn is attributed to reduced construction activity, primarily due to household investment postponements during the general election period, despite favorable weather conditions.

Cimaf is a subsidiary of Ciments de l’Atlas (Cimat), a Moroccan group active in the cement industry.

Sandrine Gaingne