Kenya: Savannah cement bets on infrastructure to protect market share

Savannah Cement is betting on local and regional projects to protect its market share from increased competition.

The local manufacturer is focusing on infrastructure development projects such as roads, dams and related large ticket initiatives which is geared at diversifying the firm’s revenue streams while enhancing its market share.

Savannah Cement MD Ronald Ndegwa, says the firm has been actively pursuing supply opportunities to local and regional infrastructure development projects successfully riding on the firm’s consistent product quality – a hallmark of the latest technology installed by the firm.

Further, Savannah Cement, is undertaking preparatory works to facilitate the installation of its second grinding plant at its Kitengela manufacturing complex to boost production capacity.

The installation of the second grinding plant next year is expected to double the firm’s production capacity to 2.4 million tons annually up from the current 1.2million tons.

The Outer Ring road project is one of the major infrastructure projects using Savannah Cement products being the brand that meets the customer’s stringent quality requirements.

Sinohydro Corporation’s Chief Engineer Mr. Zhou Chong said that the Chinese firm had settled on Savannah Cement because of quality assurance.

The Outer Ring Road project, financed by the African Development Bank and the government, is scheduled for completion by September next year, easing the traffic nightmare in Nairobi’s most populated suburbs.

Ndegwa said that the firm was also looking forward to supplying the Naivasha leg of the Standard Gauge Railway Project.

In addition to these mega-projects, Savannah has also exclusively supplied cement to the construction of Garden City, the region’s largest mall, JKIA expansion and the University of Nairobi towers and the Karuma Dam in Uganda among others.

Savannah, which started operations in 2012, currently produces 1 million tons annually at the Athi River plant, which has an installed capacity of 1.2 million tons.