Pemba, Mozambique, July 8, 2025 (Lusa) - Mozambique Dugongo Cimentos will invest around $35 million (€29.8 million) in a third factory in the district of Ancuabe, in the province of Cabo Delgado, in the north of the country, the company has announced.
“The team is drawing up the most detailed concept for the factory, and the company has already conducted two community consultations on the DUAT [Land Use and Development Rights] and we hope to hold other community consultations in connection with the environmental licensing process,” said the coordinator of the new factory construction project, Anselmo Amurane, during the first extraordinary session of the Cabo Delgado Provincial Executive Council, held on Monday.
Amurane explained that the project will last 17 months and will employ approximately 900 workers in construction and 135 in operations. He will soon announce the start date for the works.
“We also hope to contribute to the overall capacity for cement supply and production,” he said.
According to the source at the Chinese-owned cement company, the project also aims to employ young people from Nampula province and pass on technical knowledge, “something that is already happening in Maputo and Nacala,” where the group’s two factories are located.
With the new Dugongo plant, Mozambique will now have three cement factories.
The Mozambican business group SPI and the Chinese group West China Cement Limited own Moçambique Dungongo Cimentos.
Research institutions have linked SPI to the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), and SPI maintains a vast business portfolio; the ruling party has yet to comment on the matter.
Shortly after entering the market in May 2021, Dugongo charged cement prices significantly below market rates, prompting other operators to accuse the company of unfair competition. This led to the bankruptcy of other cement companies and layoffs in the sector.
After months of activity and very low prices, the company raised the cost of cement to levels close to those charged by the cement companies that authorities forced to close.
In September 2022, the cement company announced that it would pay a fine of 20.5 million meticais (approximately €321,000) imposed by regulators for anti-competitive practices.
The Competition Regulatory Authority imposed the fine because Dugongo did not respond to questions from the regulator about “sales price calculation methodologies” raised by “evidence of anti-competitive practices in the construction cement sector”.
LYCE/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
