Products Cement Number of employees 700 Founded 1994 | Website Homepage Type of business Private | |
Key people Daniel Petterssongeneral manager | ||
Hima Cement Limited (HCL) is a cement manufacturer in Uganda. It is wholly owned by LaFarge, the construction materials manufacturer based in France.
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Location
The main factories of the company are located in Hima in Kasese District in the Western Region. This is approximately 29 kilometres (18 mi), by road, north of Kasese, the nearest large town. Hima is approximately 334 kilometres (208 mi), by road, west of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. The coordinates of the main factory are +0° 17' 21.00"N, +30° 10' 45.00"E (Latitude:0.289167; Longitude:30.179167).
Overview
HCL is the second-largest manufacturer of cement in Uganda, producing an estimated 850,000 metric tonnes annually.
The cement produced by HCL is marketed to the Eastern African countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan.
In addition to the factories in Hima, the company maintains a corporate office on Twed Towers, Kafu Road, in Kampala and two warehouses, one in Kampala's industrial area and the other in the eastern border town of Tororo. HCL also owns a limestone quarry at Dura in the Kamwenge District, which supplies the limestone used in the manufacturing of the cement. The quarry is estimated to contain enough limestone to sustain current production capacity until 2036.
History
In 1994, the parastatal formerly known as Uganda Cement Industries was privatized by the government of Uganda. It was split into Tororo Cement and Hima Cement. The two companies were acquired by different investors. Tororo Cement eventually became Tororo Cement Limited. In 1999, the French conglomerate LaFarge acquired 100 percent shareholding in Hima Cement and re-branded the company into Hima Cement Limited.
Production capacity at the HCL's factories increased steadily from the 20,000 metric tonnes in 1994 to 850,000 in 2011.
In September 2016, the company announced plans to construct a US$40 million factory in the eastern Ugandan city of Tororo, with annual production capacity of 1 million metric tonnes annually, bringing the company's capacity to 1.8 million metric tonnes every year.
Ownership
HCL is a subsidiary (100 percent) of Bamburi Cement Limited based in Kenya. Bamburi Cement Limited is itself wholly owned by LaFarge, the construction materials manufacturer based in France.