DANGOTE Cement Zambia Limited has commenced the construction of a 30 megawatts coal powered electricity generation plant worth US$50 million at its Ndola factory.

Management said in response to a Press query that the construction of the electricity power plant which would be housed within the $400milion cement project which had the capacity to produce 1.5 million tonnes per annum.

Electricity to be generated at the power plant would be used for the manufacture of cement and the company would soon come up with a position on how to use the excess electricity to be generated.

"As at now, what we want to do is to engage coal mines and other local coal suppliers to establish whether they are in a position to meet the coal demands of electricity generation," management said.

The Masaiti-based cement plant is expected to be operational in the third quarter of next year.

Dangote Cement Zambia director Monica Musonda recently said the opening of the Dangote Ndola plant, would make Dangote the biggest cement producer in the country, producing 3,000 tonnes per day.

The local cement production scenario would never be the same again with the coming of Dangote which has now entered the Zambian market.

A Chinese construction and engineering firm Sinoma, has been engaged to construct the Dangote plant, while the contractor engaged to construct the Lusaka plant would be announced once the process took off.

Dangote Cement expected a 40 to 45 per cent share of the local cement market after the opening of the Ndola plant.

Dangote Industries Zambia Limited is part of the Dangote Cement PLC, which is owned by Nigerian financial magnet Aliko Dangote, who is ranked by the authoritative Forbes Magazine as Africa's richest man and the 76th richest person in the world and is worth $12 billion.