DRC: The Nyumba Ya Akiba Cement project in the Democratic Republic of Congo marked a significant milestone on 27 November 2014 with a loan signing of US$135m, making it a strong step towards country's industrialisation through improvement of the cement market. The project will add 1.18Mt/yr of cement capacity to the national market.

The project has attracted financial support from the African Development Bank (AfDB), Eksport Kredit Fonden (EKF, as guarantor to AfDB), the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), Habib Bank Limited (HBL, as lead arranger) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Total project costs of US$270m will be funded by the US$135m loans. The AfDB will contribute two tranches of up to US$30m each, with one tranche being fully guaranteed by the Danish Export Credit Agency (EKF).

Nyumba Cement will address the rising cement demand fuelled by infrastructure development and reconstruction needs. The plant will be located in the Songololo, Bas Congo Province, DRC. The limestone and clay quarries are located on the plant site, 250km from Kinshasa. The Matadi port, located 100km from the plant, will allow easy access for importing raw materials and for cement exports to the regional markets.

The project is sponsored by a 50/50 joint venture between Pakistan's Lucky Cement Limited and the DRC's Groupe Rawji. Nyumba Cement will ease the country's dependency on expensive imports, which stand at over 50% of total cement consumption. The Nyumba cement output will target a vast area of the country and stimulate infrastructure development while supporting the local private sector, particularly small and medium enterprises, by promoting the reinforcement of the local supply value chain.

As a cost competitive import substitution project, Nyumba Cement will enhance the efficiency of the domestic markets, boost infrastructure, create jobs and transfer knowledge to the local workforce and is expected to have a significant demonstration effect to attract direct investments to the DRC.