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 Daily Independent Online.
* Monday, August 09, 2004.
Investors to
inject N28.5 billion into Benue Cement
By Bassey Inyang
Correspondent, Calabar
About
$210 million (N28.56 billion) is required to put the Benue Cement Company
(BCC) Plc back on stream for
effective production in its factory at Gboko, Benue State.
Besides this amount, which is
still needed for the repair of the plant and other necessary commitments,
the company has so far spent $20 million (about N2.72 billion) to ensure
that unhindered production is attained.
The chairman of
BCC, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, stated this in Calabar at the 24th annual
general meeting (AGM) of the company.
According to Dangote, a
breakdown of the $210 million indicates that $120 million (about N16
billion) will be committed to the plant to ensure that it is put in
proper shape while $90 million (bout N12 billion) stands out for
commitment the company expects to fulfill between now and the end of the
year.
The chairman was of the view
that there are plans to upgrade the production capacity of BCC from
400,000 metric tonnes to 2.7 million metric tonnes per annum.
According to him, before the
company was privatised by the Federal Government, it could not meet its
installed production capacity of 900,000 metric tonnes per annum, as it
produced between 300,000 and 400,000 metric tonnes yearly.
Dangote stated that the task
of bringing back the company to shape to meet the envisaged capacity has
been assigned to M/S Associated Cement Company of India.
He disclosed that by
September, this year, the repair of the plant would have been completed,
as the required machines and equipment have been ordered from
abroad. The company also intends
to upgrade its power generation capacity to 53 megawatts (MW), as the
chairman disclosed that five 8.4 MW generating sets, running on low pour
fuel oil (LPFO) has been ordered from outside the country.
Also ordered in order to meet
with the production target, according to Dangote, are auxiliaries such as
centrifuges, water-softening plants, and demineralisation plant (DM),
just as the contract for the structural steel fabrication has been
awarded to Oman Steel Company and Diamond Engineering Company, India.
The performance of the
company, which produces the Lion brand of cement for the year ended
December 31, this year, could be described as everything but impressive.
The company suffered losses in
all aspects of its business activities and therefore carried forward a
loss of N5,582,773 billion for the year ended December 31, 2003, as
against N4,856,115 billion for the 2002 fiscal year.
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