Democratic Republic of Congo: PPC Barnet DRC has awarded an EPC contract to Sinoma International Engineering Company for the construction of a new cement plant in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The signing took place in Kinshasa marking the inaugural phase of the construction. The main sponsors of the US$300m project include PPC, Barnet Group and the International Finance Corporation. The investment forms part of PPC's expansion plans in Africa, which aim to increase the company's revenue from outside South Africa from the current 26% to 40% by 2017.

"The plant is located near Zamba in the Cataracts district, approximately 230km from Kinshasa. The fully-integrated plant will consist of a five-stage preheater kiln with an inline calciner and will produce 1Mt/yr of cement to serve both the rapidly growing market in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring export markets," said PPC's Business Development Executive Trevor Barnard.

The plant is expected to take around 26 months to complete and commissioning is scheduled for the last quarter of 2016. The new plant will generate approximately 300 direct jobs once fully operational.