Kenyan cement firm expands markets to southern Sudan
June 20, 2006 (NAIROBI) — Kenya’s largest cement producer has launched its retail operations in southern Sudan to meet immense demand for construction services in the vast region, company officials confirmed on Monday.
An official of the East African Portland Company (EAPC) said the firm, which launched its operations in south Sudan’s capital Juba over the weekend, has increased its production to meet the growing demand in southern Sudan, as part of a major investment in the East African region.
The company’s Managing Director Zakayo Ole Mapelu said the EAPC has increased its production capacity from 600,000 tons to 1.3 million tones over the past 12 months in order to cope with increased demand from neighboring countries.
Ole Mapelu called on the Kenyan government to tarmac the Lokichoggio road linking Kenya to Juba to facilitate easier transportation.
He said the company is currently spending close to 14 million shillings (about 200,000 U.S. dollars) to transport one ton of cement through Uganda, a figure that can be reduced by half through the development of the Lokichoggio road.
However, Ole Mapelu said the proposed construction of the railway link from Kenya to Sudan would further cut down cost.
“We have already penetrated southern Sudan where our product is already in use in road construction. We are also supplying cement to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Mapelu said by telephone on Monday.
The EAPC chief executive said that the construction of a road network for southern Sudan would be crucial to rebuilding a region that, after two decades of civil war, has virtually none at all.
Most of the roads that do exist are usable only in the dry season and all are unpaved and in desperate need of repair, he said.
He said the EAPC was a natural choice for southern Sudanese government because it was supplying cement to Juba under a German development agency (GTZ) -sponsored program.
The GTZ, which has been contracted to reconstruct part of the road network in the vast region, is using cement from the EAPC.
“With a strong presence in southern Sudanese towns of Rumbek, Kapoeta and Juba, servicing the contract is expected to be smooth for the EAPC,” said Mapelu.
Analysts said with no factory in southern Sudan, getting cement from the Sudan’s North does not make economic sense for the southerners who have suffered for more than two decades with no proper infrastructure in place.
The government of southern Sudan planned to construct millions of houses for internally displaced people and those returning from exile.
In June last year, the government of southern Sudan and the EAPC entered into a partnership for supply of cement for construction of houses and concrete roads in 11 key cities.
Kenya, the east African nation which hosted the marathon talks for Sudan that resulted in the January peace deal, is particularly keen to beat South African rivals in the race for opportunities in southern Sudan and aims to build a railway to connect its neighbor to its Mombassa port.
(Xinhua)