The government should impose higher taxes on raw material imports for cement production to grow local firms and protect jobs, Devki Group chairman Nerandra Raval has said.
Raval said Kenya has enough clinkers to meet local demand and the duty charged will protect local industries from competition and save the country billions of shillings in foreign exchange annually.
He spoke when President Uhuru Kenyatta presided over the opening of a Sh5.8 billion cement plant in Nakuru Tuesday.
Uhuru praised the Devki Group for championing manufacturing and housing agenda and promised to support more value-addition factories.
"The inauguration of manufacturing factories in various parts of the country including the interior parts is laudable and a boost to the Big Four Agenda," Uhuru said.
He said that the new Simba Cement plant was a major boost in the manufacturing sector and will support roads and the affordable housing project.
The Nakuru plant has a production capacity of 750,000 metric tonnes.
The second phase expected to be complete this year will increase production capacity by 1.5 million tonnes.
Up to 700 direct jobs have already been created with the operationalisation of the plant.
It has increased the group’s total employment to 6,200 directly and over 35,000 indirectly.
Raval said the group is looking to bring more Kenyans into employment when its second clinker in Emali (1,000 jobs) and Kwale steel mill (3,000 jobs) become operational.
Kenya imports approximately 2 million tonnes of clinker annually, costing the country over Sh10 billion in foreign exchange every year.
Devki Group is also constructing a second clinker line in Emali, Kajiado county for production of raw material for cement.
This line will increase the group’s total capacity to three million tonnes of clinker annually, which is the total requirement for Kenya.
“We are gearing towards fixing the country’s clinkers gap and making Kenya a regional market for raw material in cement production. If we add clinker produced by other companies, Kenya and East Africa have a surplus,” Raval said.
