East African Portland Cement Company to produce own power

By Kenneth Kwama

Kenya: East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) is set to become the first cement maker in the county to produce its own energy. This is as it seeks to expand its cement production capacity by over 50 per cent in the next two years.

Systems are already in place at the company to produce steam, which will be converted to energy to power operation. The move is set to reduce the firm’s cost of production and increase profitability at the firm, given that energy consumption accounts for about 40 per cent of production costs.

According the firm’s Managing Director Kephar Tande, energy is a major component of output in the manufacture of cement.

Chinese and Asian manufacturers, he noted, have been producing their own power, and this is why they are able to sell their cement at relatively cheaper prices.

Value to shareholders

“We are doing the same at EAPCC and are hoping to leverage from expected returns to deliver more value to shareholders,” said Mr Tande.

 Tande who was reappointed to the post by the Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation and Enterprise Development, Adan Mohamed for another three years has also announced an ambitious plan to transform the company’s packaging facility.

 The company is investing Sh1.5 billion this year. This, he said, will see the green packaging plant increase capacity and reduce cycle time — the period it takes a truck to be loaded with the finished product, from three hours to an hour, will take in a significant portion of the invested amount.

 “Currently we use what is referred to as an electric precipitator, which consumes a lot of electricity The new system will use a modern environmental friendly method that uses special bag filters to reduce dust,” said Tande. The company expects to spend Sh15 billion to Sh20 billion over the next five years in investments.