Nairobi - ARM Cement plans to expand grinding capacity at its one million ton-a-year plant in Kenya by 50 percent over the next year to meet rising demand, its chief executive said.
ARM is the second biggest cement producer in east Africa and also has operations in Tanzania and Rwanda.
In 2016, it received a $140 million (R1.83 billion) equity injection from Britain’s CDC Group, which took a 40 percent stake.
Pradeep Paunrana, ARM’s MD, said in an interview late on Wednesday that the money was used to pay debts. He said its Kenyan plant was at full capacity, and expansion was needed to meet the growing demand for cement in the country.
“We are completing a grinding plant expansion in Athi River which will give us an additional 500 000 tons of cement in the next 12 to 14 months,” he said.
The extra capacity will boost its use of clinker produced from its plant in Tanga, Tanzania, with an annual capacity of 1.2million tons of the raw material.
Paunrana, who did not give the cost of adding production capacity, said it was being funded by internal resources. He said ARM Cement had an equivalent of $125 million in debt, and will pay it down over a four-year period.
In Tanzania, ARM has a 1.5 million tons-a-year production capacity at two plants of equal size - one in Dar es Salaam, and another in Tanga.