Tanzanian Prime Minister of Mizengo Pinda, has commended the President/Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, for looking in the direction of his country for the investment in the new three million-metric-tonne cement plant.

Addressing a gathering during the ground-breaking ceremony of the $500m cement factory at Mtwara, the Prime Minister said the commencement of the construction of the plant signalled the beginning of a new business relationship between Nigeria and Tanzania.

Pinda, according to a statement made available to our correspondent by the Dangote Group on Friday, expressed happiness that the investment came from an African to a sister African country.

The PM described as an irony that prior to the coming of Dangote Cement and in spite of the abundance of limestone in Mtwara, a necessary raw material in cement manufacturing; Tanzania was experiencing a deficit in the commodity’s production and supply.

Pinda was quoted as saying, “We could not bring in cement plants with capacities to produce cement in large quantities, so that demand for cement would be met. Growing demand for cement with inadequate supply led to deficit and high prices.

“While this was becoming a growing concern to the government, we came to know about the availability of cement grade limestone in huge quantities in this village in Mtwara. But this was a challenge for us as Mtwara is quite far from the market of cement, which is mainly in the cities.”

According to him, the discovery of cement grade limestone prompted the search for investors who can put up a large cement plant, along with facilities at the port for transporting the product all over Tanzania, after meeting the demand of the Mtwara region, which is easily connected to other parts of the country by road.

The search, Pinda stated, led them to the Dangote Group, which is reputed to be the largest cement producer in Africa, which readily agreed to invest in a cement manufacturing facility in Mtwara with a packaging unit at the port for theTanzanian market and for the rest of Africa.

In his address, Dangote said the construction of the facility was a familiar turf for his company as it had done similar things in other parts of the continent.

He expressed hope that the new investment would strengthen the ties between Nigeria and Tanzania.

The investment in the sector, which he explained, as being outside the traditional mining sector, was to take advantage of the abundance of limestone in the country and work towards making Tanzania self-sufficient in cement production.

Dangote commended the government and people of Tanzania for the recent public sector and banking reforms as well as revamped and new legislative frameworks, which had spurred private sector-driven investment.

He said, “We are excited for two major reasons. The first being that today’s event is a significant milestone for us in our quest to build a pan African cement company. We are excited that an African company is making this investment in a sister African country. “This, indeed, shows that Africa is gradually taking its destiny in its own hands rather than wait for investors from outside Africa. Investment in the real sector of the economy is the only way that our continent can achieve the much desired accelerated growth and development that we have yearned for.”