Steel construction company B&T Steel has been 
appointed to construct a maintenance workshop for the $33,8-billion Ohorongo cement plant.

The company was appointed by construction company Forca, one of the subcontrators on the project.
German cement producer Schwenk KG is setting up the plant, in the north of Namibia, about 25 km north of Otavi.

Further, the turnkey contract for the construction of the plant was awarded to cement plant 
designer Polysius.

“It is a big honour for our company to be involved in the construction of a project as large and significant as this, and we are 
excited about the prospects that this project holds for Namibia. Nothing like this has ever been done there before,” says B&T Steel coowner Trevor van Vuuren.

Ohorongo will start producing cement at the beginning of next year and the estimated life span of the resource is 300 years, 
offering endless possibilities and 
opportunities to the inhabitants of Namibia, he adds.

B&T Steel reports that this will be the only cement plant in Namibia and the most modern plant in Southern Africa.

The investment is the largest by a German company since Namibia’s independence. This is essentially creating a cement 
industry for the country, explains Van Buuren.

He says that the plant will be completed by the end of this year, with commercial production scheduled to start in January 2011.

“What makes this project particularly exclusive is that Ohorongo plans to use invader bush in its plant as fuel,” he says.

He adds that the invader bush will be harvested in a controlled manner from the surrounding farms that have problems controlling invader bush, thus making the project an energy-
efficient and ecofriendly one.