NAIROBI, Aug. 24 (HANA)--Kenya’s largest cement producing company, the East African Portland (EAPC) has increased its production to meet the growing demand in southern Sudan, Rwanda and DR Congo as part of a major investment in the East African region, officials said here Wednesday.
EAPC Managing Director Zakayo Ole Mapelu said the cement company started supplying cement for road construction in the three countries early this year to meet the growing demand in the neighboring countries.
“We have already penetrated Southern Sudan where our product is already in use in road construction. We are also supplying cement to Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo,” Mapelu told businessmen in Nairobi while releasing results of 2004/05 financial year.
He said the company will increase its production capacity from 600,000 tonnes to 1.3 million tones over the next 12 months in order to cope with increased demand from neighboring countries.
The EAPC chief executive said that the construction of a road network for southern Sudan will be crucial to rebuilding a region that, after two decades of civil war, has virtually none at all.
Most of those that do exist are usable only in the dry season and all are unpaved and in desperate need of repair, he said.
He said the EAPC was a natural choice for southern Sudanese government because it was supplying cement to Juba under a German development agency (GTZ)-sponsored program.
The GTZ, which has been contracted to reconstruct part of the road network in the vast region, is using cement from EAPC.
“With a strong presence in southern Sudanese towns of Rumbek, Kapoeta and Juba, servicing the contract is expected to be smooth for EAPC,” said Mapelu.
'We are supplying about 10,000 tonnes a month to southern Sudan and new orders are flowing in from the DR Congo and Rwanda. This is expected to rise as demand grows. We are going to be very much part of the reconstruction processes in these countries,' Mapelu said.
Analysts said with no factory in Southern Sudan getting cement from the Sudan’s North does not make economic sense for the southerners who have suffered for more than two decades with no proper infrastructure in place.
The Government of Southern Sudan planned to construct millions of houses for internally displaced people and those returning from exile.
Mapelu said a Portland team has visited the vast region to study the possibility of constructing houses for the emerging middle class.
In June this year, the government of Southern Sudan and the EAPC entered into a partnership for supply of cement for construction of houses and concrete roads in 11 key cities.
SPLM Vice Chairman, Dr. Riak Machar said during the signing of the agreement that there are at least 4 million Southern Sudanese who fled to the North of the country and upon repatriation to the South they will need to enjoy the same standard of life they have been used to.
The United Nations officials in Nairobi have lauded the deal which they said would improve efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to the vast region.
“Very few people were ready to put their transport on the road. The road network has seriously hampered the UN agencies efforts to distribute relief aid and led to inflated prices for the few available commodities,” said an official at the UN World Food Program.
The announcement comes in the wake of a stock research report by African Alliance, which gives EAPC a favorable rating, but doubted its ability to take advantage of a market boom and expand its 35.2 market share.
The east African nation, which hosted the marathon talks that resulted in the January peace deal, is particularly keen to beat South African rivals in the race for opportunities in southern Sudan and aims to build a railway to connect its neighbour to its Mombassa port. Enditem
