Minister of Industry launches lime production at the Grande Cimenterie du Katanga in Likasi | DRC

The Minister of Industry, Julien Paluku Kahongya, with his colleague from Mines, Willy Kitobo, has just launched, on Monday, October 26 in Likasi in the province of Haut-Katanga, the production of lime by the Grande Cimenterie Katanga (GCK) with a capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year.

In his speech, Julien Paluku specified that the launch of this industry will enable the Republic to produce 300,000 tonnes of lime and 2,200,000 tonnes of cement per year. What to believe is part of the vision of the Head of State, Félix Tshisekedi, which aims at the diversity of the Congolese economy as well as the multiplication of jobs.

“We are here to show the support of the whole government on the activity that is carried out here and which is in line with the general philosophy of the Head of State, Félix Tshisekedi who wants our economy to be more diversified and that jobs be granted to the Congolese. By 2030, the industry sector alone should be able to provide 1 million jobs to the Congolese. On behalf of the Head of Government, we salute the partnership between the DRC, Belgium and China, which allows us to launch the production of the new modern lime kiln at the large Katanga cement plant. This launch will enable the Republic to produce 300,000 tonnes of lime and 2,200,000 tonnes of cement per year ”, declared Julien Paluku. 

He also said that this Katanga cement plant will allow the DRC to keep nearly 3 billion US dollars on its soil.

“In terms of the Congolese economy, this single company from the large Katanga cement plant will allow the DRC to keep nearly 3 billion US dollars that it should have left the country and thus weaken the country’s economy. If the shareholders and the general manager reassure the Congolese government that if the production of lime and cement is constant, we will ban the import of these products, ”he said.

The cement industry in the DRC produced 527,199 tons in the first half of 2020 against 614,630 tons produced in the same period in 2019, a decrease of 14.22%, according to data provided by the Central Bank of Congo in its Summary statistics.

However, the rate of the use of the installed capacity of the cement industry remains below the average in the first half of 2020, i.e. 43.91%.

This drop in production can be explained by the economic slowdown due to the covid-19 health crisis that has hit the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the first half of March 2020.