Displaying items by tag: Zambia
Zambezi Portland Cement lays off 47 employees
11 August 2015Zambia: Some 47 employees at Zambezi Portland in Ndola have been laid off while a further 63 are earmarked for retrenchment. The redundancies are due to reduction in business volume at the cement company, which is now faced with stiff competition from the newly commissioned Dangote Cement plant.
Zambezi Portland Cement operations director Danielle Ventriglia confirmed the retrenchment and said that the affected workers had been paid US$308/each in benefits. Ventriglia said that the retrenchments were necessitated by economic reasons and that the company would maintain a lean workforce. He added that the company was also working towards reclaiming the market share and had reduced its cement price significantly. Another 63 workers are expected to be retrenched in the next six weeks and the company would retain a workforce of 340 employees.
Dangote opens Masaiti, Zambia cement plant
05 August 2015Zambia: Nigeria's Dangote Cement opened its US$400m cement plant in Masaiti, Zambia on 4 August 2015, signalling its increasingly international ambitions as it plans new investments across Africa. The plant is expected to produce 1.5Mt/yr of cement per year once it is fully operational, creating at least 1000 direct jobs and 6000 indirectly.
"We hope to commission four other cement plants in Senegal, South Africa, Cameroon and Tanzania before the end of 2015," said Aiko Dangote, Dangote Group president. "We have decided to invest in 16 countries across the continent because we believe that Africa's future is linked to cement."
Dangote plans new cement plant in Chongwe
31 July 2015Zambia: Dangote Group has announced plans to build a new cement plant in Chongwe, Lusaka, according to All Africa. Meanwhile, its cement plant in Masaiti is due to be officially commissioned on 4 August 2015.
Lafarge launches cement depot in Solwezi
13 July 2015Zambia: According to TUMFWEKO, Lafarge Zambia has launched a depot in Solwezi to provide convenience of purchase for resellers and end users in North Western Province. The provincial minister, Dawson Kafwaya, congratulated Lafarge for opening a depot in Solwezi.
Kaziwe Kaulule, marketing director of Lafarge, said that Lafarge's goal was to provide the Zambian market with building materials and construction solutions by opening depots across the country. "Lafarge will continue to put in place systems and best ways of serving customers because customer satisfaction is what drives us. Our target is to make sure that we open a depot in every province to help our customers to easily access the products we offer," said Kaulule. He further assured the people that the depot would be operated according to the Lafarge Health and Safety Standards and that the company had put in place a strategy to help drivers achieve safe delivery of the product to the depot.
The Newly opened Lafarge Solwezi depot has a capacity to store 4500t of cement and will be the fifth Lafarge depot in Zambia among others held in Chipata, Livingstone, Ndola and Kasumbalesa.
Lafarge to expand plant despite competition
08 April 2015Zambia: Lafarge Zambia will begin work on the US$217m expansion of its cement plant in Lusaka in 2015 despite the recent opening of Dangote's cement plant in the country and slow regional economic growth.
Construction will start in the second half of 2015 and be completed in 2018, according to Emmanuel Rigaux, chief executive of the plant. The work will double Lafarge's cement production capacity to 2Mt/yr.
Lafarge's expansion and Dangote's new plant are not expected to cause a cement glut in Zambia, mainly because of demand from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. "The growth there is massive, in fact it's even higher than in Zambia," said Rigaux.
Chinese and Zambian officials also appear to be planning the construction of a cement plant in Zambia: Find story here.
Zambia/China: Chinese firms have made a commitment to accelerate investment in Zambia under agreements valued at a combined US$800m. The deal was signed by the Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone and 11 companies in Beijing. One of the 11 Chinese firms is West China Cement Ltd, which will set up a cement plant in the zone.
"Zambia hopes to attract more Chinese investors and tourists to improve economic development," said Zambian president Edgar Lungu, adding that his government will provide 'strong support' to Chinese companies. Zan Baosen, general manager of the zone, said that Zambia offers many incentives to Chinese companies. "We are eager to cooperate with Chinese entrepreneurs to explore the market potential in Zambia," he said.
Amaka Cement Industries plant on the cards
05 February 2015Zambia: Scirocco Enterprises Limited has entered into an agreement with a consortium to construct a state-of-the-art cement plant in Lusaka's Makeni area at cost of US$200m. Scirocco Enterprise managing director Moustafa Saadi said that the cement plant would have the capacity to produce 2500t/day of cement. He added that the company, Amaka Cement Industries Limited, had been incorporated in Zambia.
Saadi said that Scirocco has entered into an agreement with a Chinese firm and an international funder to carry out the project. "The agreement has been signed and feasibility study is being undertaken to establish the viability of the project. As soon as the exploration work that needs to be carried out is finalised, an environmental impact assessment will be carried out to comply with the prevailing laws," said Saadi. "We expect that the process can be concluded quickly without any undue delays. We are looking forward to the support of our community and various government institutions to facilitate the process in order to begin the physical work."
According to Saadi, the plant will be modern and efficient and will exceed all the environmental regulations in Zambia and have a positive impact on the economy of the area and the nation as a whole. He said that construction of the plant is earmarked to start in September 2015 and it is expected to be completed by 2017. Amaka Cement Industries would produce two grades of cement for the local and international markets. 500 people will be engaged during the construction period and 200 people will be employed on a full time basis once production starts.
Zambian minister sued by Dangote over corruption allegations
14 October 2014Zambia: Dangote Cement's Zambian subsidiary has sued the country's labour minister for libel and slander after he accused an executive of Dangote Cement Zambia of attempting to bribe him in September 2014. Dangote said that that the minister had created an impression that the company was exploiting Zambian workers and enticing government officials with bribes.
"The plaintiff has been brought into public scandal and its reputation has been injured," said Dangote. Local reports suggest that the dispute is the latest in a string of incidents in which Zambia's government has resorted to unorthodox tactics against foreign investors that it believes are circumventing labour laws.
Zambian minister accuses Dangote Cement of bribery
19 September 2014Zambia: A Zambian government minister, Fackson Shamenda, has accused a Dangote Industries Zambia (DIZ) executive of attempting to bribe him, according to local media. DIZ has described the allegations as 'malicious misinformation.' DIZ has 400 workers building a US$400m cement plant in Zambia. The staff count should rise to 2000 when production starts in November 2014.
"For the record, DIZ categorically deny any claims of corruption and bribery and reserve our rights on this matter," said DIZ in a statement. Shamenda did not specify what was offered by the executive and said that he had rejected it because he had critical labour issues to sort out with DIZ and did not want to be compromised.
"He told me that it was a tradition in their culture to give someone a token of appreciation. Maybe his idea was that I turn a blind eye to what is happening at Dangote," said Shamenda, according to local media reports.
Shamenda also said that DIZ should offer workers at the company permanent employment and allow them to join unions. "There is no union and according to the reports I have received, those who have attempted to join unions have had their contracts terminated.
I have asked the labour commissioner to investigate and tell me all the categories of employees, because the reports we have received indicate there are no permanent employees."
DIZ said in its statement that Shamenda had made four surprise visits to the cement plant in the last four months, prompting the company to complain about his conduct as it felt that the minister was deliberately looking for wrongdoing. "DIZ was beginning to feel harassed and unwelcome in Zambia and immediately brought this to the attention of the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry," said DIZ in a statement.
Layoffs possible at Lafarge Zambia
19 August 2014Zambia: Lafarge Zambia is considering laying off some 30% of its workforce of 670 employees, according to a memo circulated by a group of unionised workers. The company, which owns cement plants in Ndola and Lusaka, has allegedly not yet paid its unionised workers a promised salary increase, according to local reports. Instead of increasing these wages, Lafarge Zambia's CEO Emmanuel Rigaux announced the layoffs.
"We are appealing to the government to intervene on our behalf so that we are paid our salary increment and also to find out why they are pruning staff," said employees of Lafarge Zambia. The workers also allege mistreatment by management and say that Lafarge sold most of its shares to Holcim because it is 'scared' of competing with Dangote.
"The CEO takes advantage of the greediness and selfishness of our own Zambian managers to exploit us," said the employees. "Most Zambian managers are destroying their fellow citizens by protecting the greediness of these foreign investors. The management make billions but they treat the employees poorly."
According to a sales report from Lafarge dated 12 August 2014, Rigaux said, "The recent trend in our costs though is not favourable, partly as a result of negative currency impact. We must take action to contain our costs and ensure the sustainability of our business, including the review of our headcount. As we are entering the active phase of our capacity expansion projects both in Ndola and Chilanga and new competition is emerging, we must be fully mobilised to better serve our customers and maintain our undisputed leadership, including our cost leadership."