| Yobe, Chinese firm seal pact on new cement plant |
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| Wednesday,September 28,2005 Posted: 05:42 BJT(2142 GMT) The Guardian |
THE Yobe State government and a Chinese firm have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the establishment of a cement factory that will reduce the importation of cement into the country by 30 per cent.
The factory which has an installed capacity of 1.5 million metric tonnes a year will be sited in the limestone and gypsum producing areas of Fika, Fune and Gadaka.
These were disclosed last week in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital while Governor Bukar Abba Ibrahim was briefing newsmen on his three-week working leave to woo foreign investors from China, United States of America and Britain to the state.
He said that the present level of cement production was grossly inadequate with low quality compared to the locally produced ones.
According to him, with the signing of the MOU, the Chinese partners have agreed to provide 80 per cent of the funding while the Yobe State government is to invest 20 per cent in the cement factory.
While the state, he explained has about 80 million metric tonnes of limestone deposits and 45 million deposits of gypsum, adding that the raw materials needed for the establishment of the cement industry are more than enough to last in making the factory viable.
He told The Guardian that funds required for the take-off of the cement project was being provided by the Chinese partners to the tune of $80-100 million (N11.6-14.5 billion)
He, however, noted that the Chinese investors and the project partners demanded that three conditions must be met before they stake in their funds into the cement project.
The conditions, according to him, include the registration of the cement company by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), authentication of limestone and gypsum deposits in the state and the feasibility study of the project.
While defending his wooing foreign investors into the state, he said that his personal trips to the three countries in Asia and Europe has became inevitable in the development and harnessing of all the rich agricultural and solid mineral resources of the state.
Besides, he added that foreign investors needed to be assured that their investments and security to lives and property are guaranteed including political stability of the country at large and the state in particular.
What has been scaring foreign investors from the country, he said, are the trio problems of corruption, insecurity and political instability that have been facing Nigeria since independence.
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