One of Nigeria’s largest cement makers, BUA Cement Plc, has signed an agreement with Wartsila OY of Finland to construct a 70-megawatt dual-fuel power plant for the BUA Cement Sokoto Line 4 in Sokoto State.
The gas power plant will be the fourth power plant commissioned by BUA as the company seeks to increase its production capacity across all locations to 17 million metric tonnes by 2023.
The construction deal with Wartsila aligns with BUA Cement’s medium-term plan to boost its production capacity, as it moves to consolidate its leadership position in the cement industry over Lafarge Africa Plc, a subsidiary of the Swiss multinational company, LafargeHolcim.
BUA Cement is Nigeria’s second-largest cement producer and the largest cement producer in the northwestern part of the country, with a combined installed capacity of 8 million tonnes per annum and a market capitalization of N2.436 trillion ($5.9 billion) on the Nigerian Exchange.
The cement company was founded by Nigerian billionaire Abdul Samad Rabiu, who holds a majority 92.2-percent stake in the leading cement manufacturer.
In his statement at the signing ceremony, Rabiu said: “BUA Cement is happy and pleased with the progress that Wartsila made with the construction of the power plant we initially purchased for our BUA Cement Sokoto Line 3, which we expect will begin commissioning alongside the power plant.”
The Nigerian industrialist explained that the partnership will bring a high level of efficiency, technical expertise and professionalism to bear in ensuring that the new power plant will be completed on schedule by the end of next year.
He added that the strategic investment in production infrastructure will place the cement maker in the position to consolidate its production capacity in its Sokoto plant to 8 million metric tonnes by early 2023 and 17 million metric tonnes across all its plants by the same time.
Nearly three months ago, BUA signed a deal with Wartsila to construct a 70-megawatt dual-fuel power plant for its BUA Cement Obu Line 3 project in Edo State in southern Nigeria.
The 70-megawatt gas-powered plant ordered by BUA for its Obu Line 3 cement plant will ensure that the company remains efficient in its energy utilization in the cement production process.
BUA Cement’s recent investments restate its commitment to building production infrastructure into a market leader in Africa’s cement industry, as it continues to benefit from the efficiency of its operations thanks to its state-of-art facilities.
In the first nine months of 2021, BUA Cement posted N65.9 billion ($160.6 million) in profit thanks to a double-digit growth in revenue driven by strong growth in cement demand.
