28 August 2014
Details
(From left)
* Laurent Tainturier,
BASF Senior Vice President CIS, Middle East and Africa;
* Ambassador Amina Mohamed,
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade;
* Dick Purchase,
head of BASF’s Regional Business Unit Construction Chemicals
Middle East, West Asia, CIS and Africa.
BASF yesterday inaugurated its new production plant for
concrete admixtures in Nairobi.
The production site will allow BASF to better meet
the increasing demand for construction chemicals of customers
in Eastern Africa.
The production plant is located in the Mlolongo area of
Greater Nairobi. It has good access to the road network and
the Mombasa Port to receive raw materials, deliver to customers
in Nairobi and Kenya and to export to neighboring countries
such as South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.
BASF has been actively selling construction chemicals
to the Eastern African market for more than 25 years.
Other production sites in Africa are located in
* Westonaria, South Africa;
* Algiers, Algeria;
* Sadat City, Egypt and
* Casablanca, Morocco.
Dick Purchase,
head of BASF’s Regional Business Unit Construction Chemicals
Middle East, West Asia, CIS and Africa.
“We are now able to rapidly supply our customers with
admixtures for all cement and aggregate types,
whether their construction projects are located in
the urban areas of Eastern Africa or in more remote sites,”
BASF’s admixtures enable to produce concrete
with higher strength, and to increase its workability retention.
This is of special importance in urban areas such as
Nairobi, Kenya, or Kampala, Uganda,
where transportation of concrete to the construction site
may take longer due to high traffic.
Laurent Tainturier,
Senior Vice President CIS, Middle East and Africa at BASF
Kenya is a particularly strong growing market
for construction chemicals in Eastern Africa.
“Growth in emerging markets is an integral component of
BASF’s ‘We create chemistry’ strategy,”
“In line with this, BASF’s Africa strategy aims
to double sales on the continent by the year 2020.
The new production facility will strengthen the product portfolio
in the region, and will meet the demands
for multi-story buildings, long-lasting infrastructural constructions
and more energy efficiency in construction techniques,”
Cement is expensive and scarce in Eastern Africa.
With BASF products, it can be partially replaced
in the concrete mix designs. Solutions from BASF also help
to comply with energy efficiency certifications
for buildings such as LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
by U.S. Green Building Council).
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