flat sheet products

Country '1960 1961 1962 1963 "i960 1961

^:

1962 1963 ',.--"

^{- ...-~_.}_ _ - . . . .~ ·_ _ _ _....":'·...-.-______.r",,-·

-Ethiopia

^,

.. ^·128

394C'

...

^{)1 720}

K-enya ,6400 ·2700 1800

2600

,',97'4 '431, 2'5·2 ' 270

Madagasc~r 700

850

',1085 ·666

89 93

^{I, :. 190 I I I}

~jr.auritius 230 420 1620, 160·

27

:60

"

151 16

Tanzania 1632 1470

_~947

1917 141

210 121'

195

Rhodesia

Malawi .. 174 277

¹²⁶

Zambia

.,

.\.

Source: National S,tatisti~s

146.

It would. be :appreciated that the,' _~xpen.diture involved"in tIle· aCquisition of importe.d a~_b.esto~CE?nlentproducts is not considerable. The ,~~,~~~ oJ' Table :7'.,1 does cert~inly not, warrant anxi,ety •. Bu~ th.e ePc.t:~:nt of t4.~ :P...~.pJ),~·~~, here does not become noticeable until the expendi tllre on i~P9;pts:~o~ eqq;~,;va~1.-ent

materials are exarnined. Asbestos sheets hav'e not yet captured tho enormous market that is presented by roofing

needs,

and

asbestos

pipes that of the market created by irrigation and drainage

requirements.

147. In recent years alone,

the value

of imports of corrugated iron sheets, for roofing and similar use

,vas

considerable in all the countries of the sub-region. In Ethiopia the annual

expenditure

was between 1.5-2.5 million

US dollars; in Kenya 1-2 n1illion US dollars; in. Tanzania steadily of the order of 107 million US dollars; in N[alawi and Zarn,bia of the order of

1.5

million

US dollars; and in

Madagascar

of the order of 4.0 million US dollars

including

flat sheet products.

+

E!C:r:r⁰ l4/INR/84 Page 63

148. It

is 'true

:that

a~bestos-cement product~

as import commodities

suffer from 'beingheavy'~and'bJlky. They are not adapted to use in areas wh.e~eL·-tran·sp6rtposes a maj'or problem. But through dom~stic :production, the pJ5batidt :'c~irt" ^{be br'ought'nearer}

to

:centres of

major

markets. In

addition,

~,~,.e ,~;nc:t'.ea~ed ,~tilizat'ionof asbesto's-'CelTI'ent products would ass'ist' the :p,fS~.;m,a~y:,indu:stri.esof ,:the country, besides bringing 'about' considerable sa,vings·,in, f,o;re,i'gn exchang'e in substantially reducing" the

import

of iron

;-,s4~e,t.s: and p~p.e,~,.

',>149- As' iriL'the case of cement,

the

sub-region is favoured by adefluate

~'ku~~li~s of asbestos mineral as w~11. Rhodes~a is the third largBst

pi~'bduc~r

of as'be'-stos

in

the"

world, and already·' supplies all th~asbestos­

cem,ent:'

fii-ctorles

of the sub-region. In 'addition, deposits of eco~omic

size and of good quality are recognized

in"

K:enya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and

IlJladag'as9:~r. The prf9.sen·ceor absence of the mineral, however, does" not .f!~~E?~,::into ·t4e··~e~isioll ,of whether tose't up an asbestos-cem'entfactory_

:Themarket-oy+,

the

one

hand.

and:

the·

urge

to reduce 'building

costs

on the

otl1e~ ar~ t4~ ",rpain_deterrn,ining.:>factors. As ,far as the former is concerned,

g9ye~~ents in~a majority of countries oould';ass,i~st in stimulating and ensuring a mar}=:et of the order of 5-10,OQ() tons ·:·per al1.nUm, 'below 'VThich level of pro~uction the enterp~,ise become,s ~nintere'f?~ingto a prospective

·'investor.

l~q,. There is an, e·yi:dep,t·, need and desir,ability toio1prove'and"exptind the ponprete produ,ct:s.".industries in tho sub-rogion. Through' a rational choice of machines, better organization and~ Imow-h'oVl" costs of production could be

b~~ought dO~111 an9.~.~ponsequentlya l.s,

°

^sale pl~ices. The benefits to be gained from s~ch a trend ,are directly felt in building costs ,:lnthe' firs'tinstance.

151. More

than anything else,

it

is the

promise of

reduced building

costs

that would ensure the development of the cement-based industries. Diversifica-tion of

prod'ucts

to which concrete

is

adaptable, regularity in supply,

re-liability

of product would further stabilize the

building

cost mechanism.

. EjCN⁰

14/rlJR/84

Page

64

Iii

-Ladditio~,

the'

developrnent

o'f

the 'cement-based industries ;coJi,'(l)~

complementt'he development 6f substitutemat·e'rials1such as~ br,icks, clay pipe's,

·-etc.

,····Coh·ciete products' have their 'ownunique <characteristics, which ensure

their

use in' a given'jset of specified condi

tio·ns.

1

152. Still in the context ~f reducing building costsj concrete is a material in _whic~ its use coul~ raise productivity. P~ef~bticationof panels and other components in a factor3l has great'ly improved 'productivity in the developed countries. There is scope for gaining similar savings in buiiding costsin,a.eveloping·:'·countries as' well, prbv,ided" thei,'economio size of trfarket\ extsts. The effe'ct on produe·ti·vity· 'of theu·~.L(Of,:precast c'oncr'ete--is"o'ften 'se8rl not

only

on 'the direc·t reduc·t-i:on of^'I bUilding costs

;and the 'ei-iminatibno'f sp'oilage' but al's'o in':'},the imprbvetn'ent i111 :quality

. . .

... of finished' 'cchistr·uetions.

1.53.•

l.-J"hile_;..~. the improvement and expansio.n of the concrete products industries is. a rele"'vant proposition for the maj"ori

ty'ofthe

countries

;:

of _.t~~

..

~ub-region, however, .prefabricatiorL would .appear to be feasible at present in Zambia alone. The building boom

and'i'n

part'icular the large housing and building .programme planned on a continuous ~:'ba~'isis cidapted to

. __: <..^,JJ.

~he requirernent o~ a prefabric;ation plant •

. i. .

154.

The development of the concrete products industries,is e~pecially

of interest to the cement industry. I:t is t110ug'ht that cement dispatches to the concrete products industries ..,is.E?s'1~ima..ted .:.·a.t:~·:1:~Q-15· per cent in countries where such .indus~ries_.. are fairly well developed. This is a

(,~'

.... ..i •.•

significant _ord~r of magni_t,:~e. In addi tjLon, the use of cement i.n road.

maki:ng in place of other tradi tional mate;ials o;"e-ns

n~~

possibiYi ties for inq.reasing the .gement market • At this ti1l1e, w-rlen"tlle situation of the

.cem~nt industry ~n some of the countr~es of the sub-region shows considerable unused capacity , it would be desirable a11ci pertinent to promote t11e use

of cernent in new' ways.

o14/ InR/ 8 4

IJage 65

155.

Tabl'e

7.2

below' swnrnarises, the possibl(~ development pattern of tIle cement based in,iustT'ies ^iYl tl:..e ,L~ast .Afl~ica11 stlb-reg'ion during the coming' years and ending in 1975- Because of the preponderant weight factor on the one hand and tIle cLlrrent h.ig'h costs' of trarlsport on tIle other, tIle

installations are envisa~ed iri'relatively small productive urtits, espeoially in so far as concrete products are concerned. It is at the same time

important to note that the decentralized growth of these industries can only be ensured provided tllat tIle installations are set UT) at close proximi ties to centres of main markets.

156.

Tb.e order"s of Inag'nitude of the investn1ents are clearly modest. By and large, the development of the cement based industries could be finanoed from domestic sources. Between. now al1cl 1975, the average arlnua1 investnler+

requirement for the concrete products industries is of the order of 700,000 dollars and for asbestos-cement products of the order of 500,000 doll~rsu

Half of the former rate of investn1e11t is fUl~thermore accounted for' by tlle single but substantial investment on panel prefabrication in Zambiao

157.

The projected development of ~hese industries may appear to be bold, particularly in so far as. asbestos cemerlt is concerned. But the future promises bright prospects. irh8re is ample scope for stirnlllating the gro1ith of consumption thro'ugh tIle substi tution of imported equivalent rnaterials by domestically produced ones or even of existing domestically produced materials by superior quali ty and oheaper rna terials ernal1ating from an improved and

dynamic local industry. Finally, it is signifioant to note that the proposed expansion of the cement based industries would increase cemen~ conslliliption by about 300j OOO tons per year, i.e. by an amount equivalent to 30 per cent of the current consumption of cement in the Sub-region.

·.f'-'/C'1\fw ..L.~.^.1'"

4/

TI\JT'1,//Q;,..L~'JJ. u~

F'age 66

I ossible I)evelo~plnent T'a.,ttern alld Inv\3stn1811.t jJstin1dtes for -_ii~=-g.~~ii~I~_~~~~~

__

~:t.~-~_.§_~I_ ~-~~~-}'!~=~~]~ ~

.. _...

~f~~~~i_./:l~fi~~~~=_-[Ub=-r~-g ^{i O.Il}

-Country

~oncrete _Toducts

'4-. __ - " - '. _ -•.• -... _...-~... ",. . . .-...,.._...,, · _....·. . . . .~,,_ _·_-...._·_:_.,....,..,·~··_·.-J'·--....~ - _ L..." " ' . · _ . n

No^o and Annual Invest-enterprise Capacity ment

each tons US

.:i.sbestos-cernent Total of

~·--"-'·_1,·".","'_·_-__ ·"'"," • ,7_·-""""_

Noo Annual Invest- Investment

capa~ ment Requirements;

city US $ US dollars

each ton Burundi 3 cone⁰

prod.

300,000 ⁱ l(Ex 5,000

Dans le document The cement and allied industries in the East African Sub-Region (Page 67-71)