Ethiopia is striving to tackle its economic crunches through designing multiple escape routes by transforming the economy from agrarian to industry- led. Expanding the nation’s capacity in manufacturing high industrial products with quality, the government of Ethiopia and responsible stakeholders have been giving due attentions to the issue and finding better ways to achieve the sought after goals.
The government of Ethiopia has built more than ten industrial parks and one free trade zone across the country so as to realize the objective of transforming the economy equipped with industrialization. As a result, a number of local and international investors have entered to those parks and started operating. The government has also established numerous bodies that can provide assistance and flatten the path to success.
From the many gigantic projects operating in the country; Lemi National Cement project has become one of the mega projects to address the nation’s demand on cement as the country expects more benefits from such mega project.
According to its official website, Lemi National Cement PLC currently is a member of the joint venture formed between East African Holding and West International Holding (WIH).
This project incorporates three mega project developments namely: Lemi National Cement and Industrial Park, Melka Jebdu Cement Factory, and Red Fox International (Koka). The joint- venture partners; National Cement Share Company and West China Cement (West International Holding Co. Ltd) have agreed to work together on investment projects worth USD 2.2 billion. The first phase of the project valued USD 600 million entails six projects to be built on 270 hectares of land in Lemi Industrial Park located 130 km from Addis Ababa in northern Shewa Zone of Amhara region.
As to the website, those projects bring more blessings to the local economy and market. After completion, the projects can include 10,000 tons per day Clinker or 4.5 million tons of Cement (PPC) per year, 30 m2 Gypsum board and 400,000 tons of Gypsum powder plants, Concrete pole, and prefabricated housing and Colbert pipe plant. Dire Dawa two lines each with capacity of 700,000 TPA Steel products also in progress, increasing the Dire Dawa Plant by 30%.
Recently, Lemi National Cement has announced the completion of installing the main equipment for cement production which is the capping of Pre-heater Frame and the Rotary Kiln machineries that are the core steps for cement production. The machineries will help the cement factory to produce 10,000 Tons of clinker cement per day or 15,000 tons of cement per day which is equivalent to 150,000 quintals of cement per day.
Speaking at the event, Secretary of the Party Committee and Executive Director of Sinoma Suzhou, Lin Zhong, stated that the Ethiopian Lemi cement project is the first in Africa to produce 10,000 tons of clinker cement per day, a benchmark project known as “Star of Africa”. The fact that the owner can entrust such an important milestone project to Sinoma for execution not only contains the profound friendship between West China Cement and Sinoma over 20 years of sincere cooperation, but also carries the absolute trust and love of National Cement Company to Sinoma.
“Since the construction of the project began in December 2022, the company has made every effort to allocate resources and carefully organize and plan the construction. By adhering to the enterprise spirit of hardworking and dedication, the project construction team has overcome plenty difficulties such as lack of territorial resources, delayed logistics and transportation, blocked customs clearance procedures, complex security situation, and low construction efficiency caused by rainy season, thus ensuring that the project has always maintained the optimal state in terms of construction organization and technology. It has also been affirmed and praised by our employers,” the director mentioned.
The director further stated that, “From the installation of the first column of the kiln tail frame on April 10, 2022 to the installation of the rotary kiln on September 28, 2022 all the participants adhering to the team spirit of “courage to innovation and unity to overcome difficulties”, achieved the major stage results of the kiln tail preheater frame capping and rotary kiln closing in just half a year, opening a new page for the project construction.”
In a similar vein, Chairman of East Africa Holding Group and National Cement Holding Company, Bizuayehu Tadele (PhD) on his part thanked the government and higher officials for their support in order to realize the project. The project has reached to this point due to the tireless support from the responsible bodies to make the process easy.
He also appreciated the Prime Minister’s commitment to form a ministerial committee that provides the necessary support to the project. “Today’s accomplishment is a showcase that the project will be completed and inaugurated on the set time frame, which is March 30, 2024” the chairman said.
Similarly, Lemi National Cement project Deputy Manager, Abebaw Bekele on his part, said that the project was started on December, 2022. “This time we have totally completed the civil construction within 11 months. The whole project will be finalized on March 30, 2024, just after 15 months of continuous hard work. Besides, 80% of the main equipment installation has been completed.
The general progress of the whole project, as to Abebaw, has reached to 70%. The first time frame to complete the projects was 18 months. After Prime Minster Abiy Ahmed (PhD) visited the project, he put a direction to finish the project within 15 months. As a result, all the participants have been working aggressively to complete the project within the time set.
“Finalizing projects within short period of time is a new trend in the country’s construction experience. Comparing this project with other mega projects across the nation, this project is being operated in a higher speed and construction quality,” Abebaw said.
The project, as to the deputy manager, will be expected to cover 50% of the nation’s cement demand. Some 600 million USD is allocated for Lemi and Dire-Dawa National Cement projects.
Around 5 million and 3 million metric tons of cement will be produced and injected to the local market by Lemi and Dire-Dawa cement projects respectively. Lemi National Cement Project is one of the largest projects in the country that is expected to be transformed to Lemi Industrial Park. More projects like gypsum, aluminum, and glass will come in the future.
“More than 3000 Ethiopians and 1200 Chinese workers have been participating in the project construction. In the future, the project will create over 10,000 jobs for citizens,” Abebaw noted.
The project has also been working on answering the queries of infrastructure like electricity and water supply. To this end, they have tried to get 200 kilowatt from Debre berhan and water supply from Siya Debir.
The project is a joint-venture project owned by China- based West International Holding and East African Holding companies. The project will be able to produce 130,000 to 150,000 quintals of cement per day when it start production with its full potential.
BY DANIEL ALEMAYEHU
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 29 NOVEMBER 2023
