CPL clinker plant machinery arrives for Njereza plant in Mangochi
One of Malawi’s local cement producers, Cement Products Limited (CPL), says it is set to kick start the erection of its long awaited Njereza clinker project in Mangochi following the arrival of the first consignment of machinery comprising of over 620 tonnes of machines.
CPL Managing Director Aslam Gaffar said yesterday the first consignment of the equipment, which comprises a kiln, cooler, coal mill and raw mill arrived in the country early last week.
“These four sections constitute the hub of the manufacturing process and foundations for these sections are complete. A Chinese team is set to arrive into the country soon after the Chinese New Year festival to commence erection of this equipment.
“The erection period is six months. The second consignment is expected to be shipped from Shanghai by December 10th and should arrive in Beira Port early February 2016. This consignment is for the entire plant conveyance system, conditioning towers and pre-heater system; limestone stacker and reclaimer system; dust collector systems and all crushing systems for limestone,” said Gaffar.
He said the final consignment of all electrical components, including the factory control system would be displaced by April 2016.
Gaffar said the installation of the US$19 million project is expected to bring the daily cement production by the company to 1,000 tonnes per day.
“The exciting thing about this project is that all but one of the raw materials will be locally sourced. The only raw material to still be imported is gypsum, which constitutes only three percent and is fairly priced.
“This investment is expected to create a lot more employment, save huge amounts of forex from clinker imports and greatly reduce the prices of cement in the country,” said Gaffar.
He observed that the cement market in the country is largely untapped as most of the buildings are built with environmentally unfriendly burnt bricks.
“By producing clinker locally, the price of cement will be reduced thereby triggering the mass production of cement blocks. The benefits are numerous and this was a must do project,” said Gaffar.
