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Tanga Cement blames “unreliable” rail transport for high cement prices

May, 31 2012

(Tanzania)  --  Tanga Cement's managing director Erik Westerberg has blamed the unreliable rail transport in the country for causing an escalation in cement prices in the country.

“We are relying on road transport to move our products which is very costly,” Mr Westerberg said.

“If we were to use rail transport it would reduce the costs of production thereby reduce the final prices," he added.

He added that if the cement companies relied on rail transport, the prices of cement in the country would drop. Cement is currently being sold at a price of $9.61 a bag.

"There is unreliable rail transport in the country. The increase in the costs of our products is partly due to poor infrastructure," Westerberg said.

He also blamed the high taxes and infrastructure costs for the high prices of cement across the country.

"We usually pay a lot of taxes which the government reinstated in 2005 while at the same time, we face an acute shortage of power where about 30% of the total electricity required to run the company depends on the company's own production. Partly, this are some of the reasons for the high cement prices," Westerberg said.

Last week the company said it would build a second kiln to be commissioned in the first quarter of 2015.

By: Rashmi Kalia (ARI-C NEWS)

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