Dar Es Salaam — Having invested in a multibillion dollar cement plant construction project in Tanzania, a Kenya based firm, Athi River Mining Limited has concrete plans of listing on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE).

The Managing Director Athi River Mining Limited, Mr. Pradeep Paunrama, said recently that the company intends to list on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange as soon as possible.

"We have chosen Tanzania as one of our investment destinations because the country is endowed with industrial minerals which form the necessary development of a modern economy. Therefore, we will continue to re-invest profits from my company back into Tanzania to add to the capital formation and industrial base of the country," said Mr Paunrama.

The firm recently injected about $120 million for the construction of a new cement factory, which will be operated under a company known as Maweni Mining Limited, a subsidiary of Athi River Company.

In that context, Tanga will now become the only city and region in Tanzania to have two big cement factories following the laying of a foundation stone of a second cement factory to be owned by Athi River Mining Limited.

According to the MD, the plant will operate with a state of the art technology, with the lowest energy and fuel consumption per ton of cement produced and will also be the lowest cost producer of cement in the region.

Paunrama said the company was constructing two plants; one in Mkuranga, Dar which will produce 2,000 tons of cement and the Tanga plant which will produce 2,000 tons of cement. It will also produce clinker.

He said the Athi River Mining Limited has operations in Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa and actively pursuing interests in several other countries in Africa. Its business is to mine industrial minerals and process them into value added finished products.

Athi River company which has a factory in Tanga produces lime which is used in gold mines in Tanzania, in sugar industries from Mozambique to Sudan, and in water treatment works throughout the region,

Cement production in Tanzania is expected to reach 3 million tonnes per year.