Uganda's construction industry is one of the fastest growing sectors doubling demand for building materials including cement. This has subsequently called for increased production on the part of cement producing industries like Tororo Cement and Hima Cement - a move that will ensure sufficient supply at reduced prices.

In reaction, Tororo Cement has invested a total of $50 million.

"We invested a total of $50 million and started installing a new cement gridding mill, and rotary packers with modern state of the art technology," Chief Marketing Manager Tororo Cement Limited, Mr Alok R. Kala, told Business Power in a recent interview.

The new plant is expected to be up and running by March 2011 and it's expected to boost cement production from the current 1 million tonnes to 2.1 million tonnes per year.

This, plus Hima Cement's 850,000 tonnes new production boost; will see the country's production hit 3 million tonnes of cement per year thus satisfying the current 1.8 million tonnes demand.

Tororo Cement Limited was started after an extensive feasibility study of Tororo Carbonate Limestone was carried out by Building Research Centres in U.K, Russia and Japan. It is then that it was decided that a cement factory be built in Tororo to utilise the carbonate limestone as raw materials.

The study outlined the steps to be taken to process the raw materials so that normal Portland cement could be produced. In December 1952, Uganda Cement Industry (UCI) Ltd was incorporated. It was later taken over by the Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) in 1953.

Under the government privatisation scheme, Tororo Cement Limited was then sold to the present owners - The Corrugated Group of Companies.

The factory's location of about 10Km before the Uganda/Kenya border town of Malaba and easy access to Kampala by an all-weather tarmac road, gives it a high regional sales advantage .

Tororo Cement is well served with infrastructure such as road and rail power. The railway from the Tororo main station services the factory's main areas of production of cement, Iron sheets, wire products and raw materials.

Apart from cement production, the company has also stretched into the production of galvanised iron sheets under the brand name 'Nyumba'. Cement and other products from Tororo are well accepted in the neighbouring countries like Rwanda, Congo, Sudan and Burundi. The company used to export to Tanzania but has since stopped.

"Our exports to the region are not so much. Our company's strategy is to concentrate and satisfy the local market," Mr Kala says. Tororo's cement comes mainly in Ordinary and Poazzalana Brands.

The company is an International Quality Standards (ISO 9001:2002) certified company for its manufacturing, marketing and distribution of cement, wire and galvanised iron sheet products. It currently employees 900 people directly and 15,000 indirectly.

Challenges

Because the country has not been producing enough cement to satisfy the demand, there has always been imports. Unfortunately some are cheap imports from some Asian countries with low ocean freight and comparative cost benefits, thus posing a great challenge to the company. Currently, the company exports about 5-10 per cent of their production, but with increased capacity they may need to put lots of effort to increase exports.