Ethiopia doubles cement-making capacity with advanced factory  – Global Construction Review 

News

David Rogers

30.09.24

Work under way on the site. Construction was completed in only two years (EastAfrican Holdings)
Work under way on the site. Construction was completed in only two years (East
African Holdings)
Ethiopia has doubled its cement-making capacity with a mega-factory in the Amhara region in the north of the country, Addis Insight reports.

The $600m Lemi National Cement Factory will produce up to 15,000 tonnes a day.

It was built over two years at the Lemi Building Materials Industrial Park by a joint venture between West China Cement and the East African Holding Company, a conglomerate based in Addis Ababa.

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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed opened it last week.

At the inauguration, he said the factory was a “testament to our government’s commitment to building fast, building big, and building clean”.

The factory is located on one of the industrial parks built to transform the Ethiopian economy (East African Holding Company)
The factory is located on one of the industrial parks built to transform the Ethiopian economy (East African Holding Company)

He said it would produce 50% of all cement made in the country.

He called on the private sector to invest in similar projects in the steel and fertiliser sectors.

The factory is highly automated, and has a 174m-tall “pre-heating tower”, the world’s tallest.

It’s used to heat the clinker to 950 degrees C before it’s ground down to make cement.