PPC focuses on expansion in Africa

[caption id="attachment_36610" align="alignleft" width="250"] PPC CEO Darryll Castle[/caption] By Wallace Mawire Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) Ltd is spreading wings in Africa with the company's expansion strategy extending its reach into Rwanda, with the launch of a 600 000 tonnes per annum plant in August 2015. According to Darryll Castle, CEO for PPC Ltd, the company has projects underway in the DRC and Ethiopia which are planned to be launched in the first half of 2017. Zimbabwe is one of the first countries PPC invested in outside of South Africa, including Botswana. Towards the end of 2016, PPC Ltd invested in a $85 million cement milling plant in Zimbabwe.The 700 000 tonnes per annum plant boasts of some of the latest technology in the cement industry. "We recognise that Africa presents a unique growth opportunity and that is why our ambition is firmly set on becoming an African major," Castle said. He added that his company was also committed to working with the locals in developing the local communities in which it operates. Castle said that this was not only being done in Zimbabwe, but in the DRC, Rwanda, Botswana, South Africa and Ethiopia.