Ibeto To Build US$386m Cement Plant In Enugu

*Dr. Cletus Ibeto

Ibeto Cement Company Limited has entered into an engineering, procurement and construction contract with China National Materials Company, Sinoma International Engineering Co. Ltd for a 6000t/day clinker line and 45MW self-generation power plant in Enugu, South East Nigeria. The contract is worth US$386m.

According to globalcement.com, the contract covers the whole process,from the exploitation of limestone mines and the crushing of raw materials, to the packing and delivery of cement and a captive power plant and includes engineering design, supply of equipment, steelwork and materials, civil construction, installation, debugging and staff  training.

Sinoma International Engineering Co. Ltd is a Shanghai-listed company.

Ibeto Group commenced business in the cement sector in 1997 with the importation of ship-loads of bagged Portland cement through the Apapa ports.

Ibeto Cement was conceived in 2001 following the Federal Government ban on the importation of cement in bags and the institution of a new policy of bulk importation and local bagging.

Located in Bundu Ama, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, it started producing bagged cement at its Bagging Terminal in June 2005. The Terminal is an ultra-modern bagging plant with a Flat-storage capacity of 50,000 metric tons and a production capacity of 1,500,000 tons per annum which translates to a production capacity of not less than 6,000 metric tons per day.

It has two production lines, each with a capacity of 2700 of 50kg bags per hour or designed

total production capacity of 5400 of 50kg bags per hour. This means that nine trucks of 600 bags each will be loaded every hour. It also has a third production line for big bags of 1500 kilograms, popularly known as the Big Bag Plant and yet a fourth production line for Bulk Cement powder which is loaded on special cement trucks fitted with tanks and discharge pumps.

In further response to the Federal Government’s call for a total shift from mere ‘bagging’ to actual production of cement locally, the Ibeto Group has since started work on a 5-million tonnes per annum Cement Manufacturing Plant in Effium, Ebonyi State.