Devki plans Nyeri cement plant with 800 direct jobs as traders expect prices to drop 10%

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Devki Group plans to build a cement grinding plant at Karicheni village in Kieni, Nyeri County, a project the company says will create about 800 direct jobs and 3,000 indirect ones once it is running. Cement traders in the region expect prices to fall by about 10% when the factory opens, because they would no longer pay to truck every bag up from plants far away.

The company has not given a price tag beyond describing the project as a multi-billion-shilling investment. It also has not said how many tonnes the plant will grind each day or when construction will start.

What residents were told

Devki officials, led by James Wainaina, met residents at a public participation forum in Karicheni, in the Chaka area, last week. Residents asked about dust, noise and water, the usual worries around cement works.

“We as a company undertake that there would be no concern about pollution coming from this plant. We will ensure all other environmental concerns are taken care of,” Wainaina told the meeting.

Devki says a second round of public participation will take place at the same venue in Karicheni on October 26 and 27. These forums are part of the environmental approval process, so the project still needs a licence from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) before building can begin.

Local leaders welcomed the plan. “For a long time, Nyeri has had no industry, so we welcome this move by this investor. It is our first industry,” said Kingori Wanjohi.

Why a 10% price drop is possible

Traders say higher fuel prices have pushed up the cost of trucking cement into the Mt Kenya region from plants elsewhere, and that cost ends up in the price of every bag sold in towns such as Nyeri, Nanyuki and Karatina. A plant in Kieni would cut that distance sharply.

Traders were careful to say that the size of any saving will depend on how much the plant produces and what it costs to distribute. A grinding plant also still needs clinker, the main raw ingredient, and it will still have to be brought to the site, so not every transport cost goes away.

A busy year for cement plans

Nyeri is not the only new spot on the cement map. Kieni already has a second proposal on file with NEMA: Ndovu Rocks Limited has submitted an environmental impact report for a cement and concrete products plant at Lusoi village off the Nyeri-Nanyuki highway, including a ready-mix concrete unit rated at 35 cubic metres an hour.

In western Kenya, Mamba Cement plans a KSh60m grinding plant in Kisumu’s Awasi belt. Demand is behind the rush: cement consumption crossed one million tonnes in a single month for the first time in July, helped by the affordable housing programme and road works.

For Devki, the Nyeri plant adds to a run of expansion. The group, which owns National Cement and Devki Steel Mills, recently applied for a licence to mine iron ore on 29.8 sq km in Taita Taveta to feed its steel business. You can read more about the man behind the group in our profile of Devki’s billionaire owner.

What happens next

After the October 26 and 27 forums, Devki’s consultants will fold residents’ views into the environmental report that goes to NEMA. If the licence is granted, hiring for construction would follow. Job seekers in Nyeri can watch for manufacturing openings on Job in Kenya, and we will report the plant’s size and cost once Devki files them.