Rwanda: Cement Plant Opens in Rwanda

Kigali — A new CIMERWA plant (the only cement producer in Rwanda) was last week unveiled with expectations to increase cement production from the current production capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year to 600,000 tonnes/yr.

This will boost cement production and export revenues of the country to over $85million per year hence reduce the big trade deficit gap the country currently has.

"The new plant will allow Rwanda have enough cement, exporting some to its neighbors like DRC and Burundi and also will help create employment opportunities for Rwandans," Rwanda's Premier, Anastase Murekezi said.

"This will help drive sustainable economic development and poverty reduction in the country,"Murekezi said.

Murekezi was speaking after unveiling this new plant that is located in Bugarama, Rusizi district, to the Western Province of Rwanda.

PM Murekezi said, "To facilitate investment and industry development, the government of Rwanda exempts all raw materials and capital goods from the payments of import duties".

"Our government has put in place laws that facilitate and promote investment. There is now an investment code No06/2015 of March, 28th 2015 that has a package of incentives and other facilities given to all registered investors in Rwanda," the Premier said.

"Rwanda offers an attractive environment to operate and run a business. The country has been ranked the most competitive place in doing business in East Africa, 3rd on the African continent by the global competitiveness index report 2014-2015," he said.

Rwanda has been importing over 500,000 tons of cement but with the opening of the new plant the country will be able to produce 600,000 tons/yr, allowing Rwanda to export 30% of the total production (about 200,000 tons) per year.

CIMERWA ltd was hailed for creating job opportunities to over 600 people, 400 of these being Rwandans, and the 200 Chinese during the two years of its expansion.

Rwanda's current unemployment rates stand at 3.4% and the government is looking at creating over 200,000 off-farm jobs every year. This is why government has developed several strategies to support this cause. With the coming in of this new plant, the government believes it will meet this target aimed at improving people's livelihoods.

"CIMERWA has been in operation for over 30 years and has a long and distinguished presence in Rwanda and the region. Our previous logo was a closed diamond, our new logo is open-symbolizing the bright future we anticipate sharing together with all our stakeholders," CEO CIMERWA Bisisiwe Legodi said.

"The future is already becoming a reality. We have worked together with government, our stakeholders, community and suppliers to produce this world-class facility that we can all be truly proud of," she said.

CIMERWA firmly believes in attracting, nurturing and developing local talents which is evident in its development and skills transfer programme which offers graduates an added advantage to improve opportunities for employment.

"We currently have 22 new high calibre graduates and 28 local Rusizi graduates undergoing trainibg with possibility of absorbing some of them into our system at the end of the program, Legodi said.

The company looks forward to supplying both local and regional customers with competitively-priced, high- quality products that will increase infrastructural capacity across Rwanda and the region.

Legodi applauded the government for the newly published investment code which she says will definitely attract more investment into the country.

"Having successfully passed all requisite testing and meeting global best practices in the industry, this new facility has been designed to achieve the most technologically efficient operation. Producing high-grade cement that will meet Rwanda's growing demand," Chairman PPC the main partner to CIMERWA ltd, Bheki Lindinkosi Sibiya said.

"The completion of this plant represents a remarkable achievement and is the result of solid, sustainable partnerships and solution. We have played and continue to play a major role in developing infrastructure and enabling the built environment across the continent," he said.

"As one of CIMERWA's key partners, PPC is proud to be aligned to this company as a majority stakeholder in 2013- an indication of our belief not only in CIMERWA but also in Rwanda itself.

We are proud to have contributed towards making this new facility a reality both through our partnership and more especially through the technical expertise we have added to this collaborative project," Sibiya said.

The Governor Western province, Caritas Mukandasira urged residents of Rusizi district to use the opportunity they have of having CIMERWA in this area for their own benefits.

"This will help fight poverty and hence boost development of the district and therefore contribute to the economic development of the country," she said.

To create a wider market CIMERWA launched a promotion which will run till September 30th. Here its customers are able to buy 700 bags of its blue packed cement (32.5) at 7300 from the factory in Bugarama.

According to Legodi, new cement prices will be established immediately after this promotion.

Rwanda looks at boosting its exports by 28% every year by 2018 which is aimed at narrowing the trade deficit gap the country has. The unveiling of the new plant will therefore support the country in meeting such an ambitious target.