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Bua, Chinese firm plan N374bn steel, cement plants

By on February 20, 2016

An indigenous conglomerate, the Bua Group, has resumed discussions with a Chinese firm, Sinoma International Engineering Company, on plans to construct a steel plant in Nigeria and two cement factories in East Africa.

The Chairman, Bua Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu, stated this on Thursday and gave the total cost of the projects as $1.9bn (about N374bn at the official exchange rate of N197 to the dollar).

Sinoma, which is said to be the only enterprise that possesses the core technology and a complete innovation system in the non-metallic material industry in China, had last year reportedly signed a $4.34bn deal with the Dangote Group to build various cement plants across Africa.

A report by Reuters indicated that each of the Bua steel plant, with capacity for 1.2 million tonnes, would cost $1.2bn, while the two cement plants, which would have an annual capacity of three million tonnes, would cost $700m.

Although the report stated that the steel plants would be located in Nigeria, the specific locations and when they would be completed.

Our correspondent learnt that the talks on the two cement plants commenced last year.

Rabiu was quoted as saying in September last year that Bua had signed $600m worth of contracts with Sinoma International to double its cement production capacity and expand its market share in Nigeria.

The Bua Group is said to have invested $500m in a three metric tonnes per annum capacity Greenfield cement plant in Okpella, Edo State. The Obu cement plant, which was inaugurated last year, took Bua’s cement capacity to 5.3 metric tonne yearly.

[Punch]