Demand for cement will be driven by building of infrastructure and housing development, Executive Director, BUA Group, Kabiru Rabiu has said.
He said the firm’s target is to increase its capacity to 10 million metric tonnes per year by 2018.
He said the company acquired a controlling stake at the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc, as well as Edo Cement. This is in addition to being one of the 13 companies given licenses to bring in bulk cement into the local market.
He said the company established 30 km of gas pipeline to power their cement plant in Edo State. He predicted that cement price will remain stable in the short term and gradually drop in the medium term.
Speaking at an investor conference, Rabiu said “At the moment, companies within the group are separate entities within different divisions. We have the Infrastructure division and then we have the foods division. In the infrastructure segment, we have cement, real estate, steel and port operations,” Rabiu said.
He explained that massive infrastructure projects, commercial and residential housing development will drive cement demand in Nigeria. The BUA boss said he learnt from informed sources that President Muhammdu Buhari’s administration planned to spend about $20 billion starting from next year on infrastructure.
