Maintaining a presence close to its burgeoning customer base has led cement provider AfriSam to establish a ready-mix cement plant in the Saldanha Bay industrial development zone (IDZ).
Fully operational on June 9, the facility would have a production capacity of 70 m³/h and comprise offices, storage silos for cement and aggregates, as well as delivery and dispatch areas to accommodate the company’s ready-mix delivery trucks.
The plant will service the entire Saldanha Bay municipal area, including St Helena, Saldanha Bay, Langebaan, Paternoster, Jacobsbaai, Vredenburg and Hopefield.
AfriSam building construction materials Cape territory manager Cornelius Bevin said the company had “for some time” planned to increase its footprint in the region and was encouraged by the announcement of the upcoming contracts to build the Langebaan Hospital, the further extensive development of Saldanha’s IDZ and the widening of the port at Saldanha Bay.
“These enormous projects, which should lead to the integrated development of the Saldanha Port, the Saldanha IDZ, Saldanha municipality and the Saldanha/Langebaan coastal and nature areas on the West Coast, will require extensive investments in port development and IDZ facilities.
“Not only will each of these projects require large amounts of ready-mix product, but they will also prompt the increased development of infrastructure to support these projects,” he commented, adding that this would typically include roads, schools, clinics, sewage systems and housing, which, in turn, would also require ready-mix concrete.