Bamburi’s Kes4bn Athi River plant expansion underway

Bamburi Cement’s capacity expansion project at its Athi River cement grinding plant is moving forward and is poised to begin major construction next month after all pre-construction activities have been completed.

The grinding plant capacity expansion commenced in January and is set to inject additional production capacity of 900,000 metric tonnes per year, with the overall annual combined total capacity of Bamburi’s plants in Athi River and Mombasa increasing to 3.2million metric tonnes after completion

The project, scheduled to be commissioned by mid 2018, will see Bamburi Cement install a Vertical Cement Mill (VCM), becoming the first cement maker in the country to use this latest technology in cement manufacturing. This is the first phase of Bamburi’s capacity expansion plan, underscoring the company’s commitment to continued operation and investment in the country.

This project comes at a time when the demand for cement is projected to grow in future due to the investment mainly in the individual home builder segment and in major infrastructural activities by both national and county governments. “This move is guided by the projected growth in the Kenya construction industry in the next decade and beyond,” said Bruno Pescheux, MD of Bamburi Cement.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, cement consumption, a key indicator in the building and construction industry, has been on the rise for the past few years. Last year, it went up by 10.5% to 6.3 million tonnes from 5.7 tonnes in 2015. In 2014, consumption was at 5.2 million tonnes.

BMI Research, a company that analyses industry trends, projects that the local construction industry will grow 8.7% this year and remain steady up until 2026 with an annual growth of 6.2%