Dangote says technical issue halt production, not costs

MTWARA’s Dangote Cement has refuted claims of stoppage of production due to high costs, saying the closure was due to technical problem.

CEO of Dangote in Tanzania, Mr Harpreet Duggal, said the temporary stoppage was caused by a technical problem in the plant’s units, which is not critical.

“Dangote engineers are on the job and the plant should resume operations in the coming days,” Mr Duggal said. In recent days, a number of information circulated on social media saying the plant has close down due to high operation costs.

However, when asked about the high cost of production, the CEO said that compared to other Dangote operations, the running cost in Tanzania is very high. Mr Duggal said “one of the main reasons is our dependence on diesel generators for powering the plant.

“Also because of the location, far away from the main market of cement, the transportation cost is very high.” Dangote said they are upbeat about their long-term investments in the country and are confident, in collaboration with the government they would be able to get the costs in control.

The USD 600m Dangote Cement plant in Mtwara is the largest cement investment in East Africa. It has a capacity to produce 3.0 million tons of cement a year.

Source: Daily News