Displaying items by tag: Ghana

Ghana: Professor Karen Scrivener has paid a working visit to the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA). The visit was part of a tour by Scrivener to Ghana to discuss innovations in cement and cementitious products and to introduce Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3) to the authority, according to the Ghana News Agency. The Head of Laboratory of Construction Materials at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland met with GSA management and staff of the Building and Civil Engineering Lab at the Authority's Head Office in Accra. Scrivener noted that she was interested in learning more and engaging with the GSA on standards and its testing capabilities as well as a potential collaboration in capacity building in cement and cementitious products.

Ghana: Daniel Asenso-Gyembibi, the director of the Building and Road Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-BRRI), has told parliamentarians that the institute’s Pozzolana cement plant needs US$4m to reopen. The unit at Gomoa Mprumem in the Central Region was forced to close due to a lack of private investment, according to the Ghanaian Times newspaper. Asenso-Gyembibi said that CSIR-BRRI had spent around US$250,000m on the project.

Commercial production started at the plant in 2011 with a capacity of around 5000bags/day. However, the unit stopped operation later in the same year due to poor sales and a lack of investment.

Ghana: The High Court of Ghana has ordered the Empire Cement Ghana to stop all activity related to building a new cement plant in the southern part of the McCarthy Hills. It has forced this until a hearing takes place for an injunction application by the McCarthy Hill Residents Association, according to the Ghana News Agency. The site was previously raided by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agents and the police in late June 2021 after a tipoff by local residents. The association alleges that the Chinese-run plant project has been misusing a temporary permit from the EPA to manufacture cement as a mandate to instead start installing equipment at the site.

Ghana: The district government of Shai-Osudoku in Accra has stopped the construction of an ‘illegal’ cement plant. The Daily Guide newspaper has reported that a China-based producer had been building the plant without a permit.

Ghana: George Dawson-Amoah, the executive secretary of the Chamber of Cement Manufacturers Ghana, has warned that mounting clinker costs are negatively affecting the cement industry. He said that the cost of clinker grew by 55% in the first half of 2021 and it is expected to nearly double, according to GhanaWeb. Cement prices have risen subsequently. Dawson-Amoah added that congestion at local ports is also adding to clinker import costs as importers potentially face demurrage fines.

Ghana: Ghacem plans to spend US$100m on building a new cement plant at Kumasi in the Ashanti Region. The new 1.5Mt/yr unit at Kumasi is intended to serve central and northern regions of the country, according to the Daily Graphic newspaper. The plant will use calcined clay as an additive. Construction is expected to take 18 months with commissioning planned for the first quarter of 2023.

The subsidiary of Germany-based HeidelbergCement is also planning upgrades to its grinding plants at Tema and Takoradi. The work at the Tema will include the addition of a new grinding and packing plant and an upgrade of existing equipment. It is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. Work at Takoradi will then follow afterwards.

Ghana: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agents and police have raided China-based Empire Cement’s McCarthy Hills cement plant in Accra. The Ghana News Agency has reported that the facility had entered cement production without a licence. The authorities stopped operations at the site and dismissed the staff, including Chinese nationals. Previously, local residents had complained about potential environmental concerns at the site.

Ghana: Nelplast Eco Ghana has launched a moulded block produced from a paste of 70% sand and 30% recycled plastics. Xinhua Hello Africa News has reported that the producer sells the blocks as a cement-free alternative building material for building walls, in conjunction with a concrete base and columns. The cost is US$11,000 per house. Nelplast Eco Ghana hopes that the product will ease Ghana’s 2m-unit housing shortage and prevent some of the 1Mt/yr plastic waste (over 95% nationally) going to landfill. It aims to expand its capacity from 1100t/yr in the near-term future.

Ghana: Residents of the McCarthy Hill district in Accra have launched a protest against China-based Empire Cement’s planned McCarthy Hill cement plant. The Daily Guide newspaper has reported that protestors allege that the proposed plant would contaminate water which flows through active salt mines. They have also complained about potential dust emissions from the site. So far the company has broken ground on the project and three silos are in place.

Ghana: Dzata Cement, a 1.2Mt/yr bagging plant based in Tema, plans to start commercial production by June 2021. The unit cost US$100m and includes a two line bagging and packaging equipment supplied by Germany-based Haver & Boecker, according to the Ghana News Agency. It will use imported cement. Proposed later phases at the site will see an upgrade in bagging operations to 2.4Mt/yr and the eventual installation of two 3Mt/yr vertical roller mills. As a safeguard against surges of cement imports the government has also introduced new export and import legislation requiring licenses for imports from outside the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region.

The plant’s founder Ibrahim Mahama is the brother of former Ghanian president John Dramani Mahama. In November 2020 the Ghana News Agency reported that Kofi Amoabeng, the former chief executive officer of UT Bank, said that loans made to companies including Dzata Cement had contributed to the bank being declared insolvent in 2017.