Cement manufacturer, Cheetah Cement is reentering the market with a manufacturing plant in Otjiwarongo, Cheetah Cement will partner with Chinese investors to produce 1.5 million tonnes of cement per year. Cheetah cement will start construction of its Otjiwarongo plant on the Cleveland Farm 20 months from now, creating 400 jobs and claiming economic benefits of U$30 million. The total investment for the project is set at U$350 million.
A local company, Whale Rock Cement (Pty) Ltd, will construct the cement factory and has invested N$21 million in the project. According to Cheetah Cement the limestone deposits can produce cement for more than 40 years. “Currently we have signed an MOU with Asia and Africa Business Management (Xi’an) Co, LTD. This company and its associates have 30 years of experience in cement production with 6000 employees under management,” Cheetah Cement’s Manfred Uxamb said at the event.
The Chinese Ambassador to Namibia, H. E. Xin Shunkang said that there is no reason for Namibia to not approach Chinese investors to speed up the process of industrialisation. Whale Rock Cement, a local company, used its own funds, its own operations and used Corsan Engineering to design the project and analyse the quality of the raw materials and the negotiate and acquire equipment from Chinese manufacturers.
However, there are still some issues such as the supply of electricity and water which the company needs assistance from government service providers.
