NAIROBI, Kenya- Kenya’s planned Dangote refinery in Lamu will require more than two million tonnes of cement to build, President William Ruto said at the groundbreaking of a new clinker and cement plant in Ngaaie, Kitui County.
Ruto said the refinery’s cement requirement would equal about 20 per cent of Kenya’s 10.44 million tonnes of cement produced in 2025.
He added that demand could rise further when construction of port facilities and related infrastructure is included.
The $16 billion refinery, planned for a capacity of 700,000 barrels of oil a day, broke ground in September. Its completion is scheduled for 2030.
Ruto said the figures showed the potential market for Kenyan cement and clinker producers as the country expands housing and infrastructure construction.
He said national cement production rose from 8.85 million tonnes in 2024 to 10.44 million tonnes in 2025, an 18 per cent increase.
Production in the first eight months of 2026 reached 7.62 million tonnes, up from 6.68 million tonnes in the same period last year, according to his remarks.
“Every time we import what we can competitively produce here at home, we pay other economies to create jobs and economic opportunities that could otherwise benefit Kenyans,” Ruto said.
Ngaaie plant targets local production
The plant being developed by Devki Group is Kitui County’s first cement manufacturing facility.
It will process locally available limestone into clinker, an intermediate product used to make cement.
The company began construction at the site in September, according to earlier reports, while the groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday marked the project’s formal launch.
Devki Group chairman Narendra Raval said the company had invested Sh70 billion in the Kitui project and was already employing 4,000 Kenyans.
Raval also said unnamed leaders had pressured the company to locate the plant elsewhere.
“Because of the pressure from the leaders we were to put this plant in Mwingi and not Ngaaie. Materials are here, yet they wanted me to put it 15km away,” he said.
Ruto said the investment should be judged by the jobs it creates, the workers it trains and the opportunities it opens for local suppliers.
He urged Devki to work with technical and vocational institutions to create apprenticeships and pathways into factory jobs for young people from the area.
The President also called for responsible water use, dust control, safe workplaces and rehabilitation of mined land, saying the project’s benefits should reach residents living near the factory.
He said the plant would join a wider expansion of local production, including a planned Bamburi clinker facility in Matuga, Kwale County.
Ruto said that project would add capacity of 5,000 tonnes per day.
The scale of the refinery’s expected cement demand, as outlined by Ruto, could create a large market for local producers.
But the actual benefit to manufacturers and consumers will depend on the plants’ production, the cost of cement, and whether Kenyan products can compete on price and quality.
