By Radarr Africa Business Desk
LAGOS, October 31 (Radarr Africa) – Kenyan President William Ruto has put the value of a new cement plant being built in Kitui County at Sh70 billion ($539 million) and said it will create 4,000 jobs, a figure well above the Sh50 billion ($385 million) previously given by the developer.
Ruto spoke on Monday, October 26, at Tseikuru grounds in Mwingi North, according to Billionaires.Africa, which cited allAfrica. The factory is being built at Ngaaie by Devki Group, the company of businessman Narendra Raval. Ruto urged young job seekers to prepare for work at the site.
Devki Group had earlier given the Sh50 billion figure, which Billionaires.Africa reported on the Sunday before. The report said the gap between the two numbers has not been explained.
The president also warned people who demand bribes or shareholdings from investors. He said their days were over and that Kenya would become “the best destination for investments,” the report said.
Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua and several lawmakers joined Ruto’s Ukambani tour. The tour was due to end with a groundbreaking ceremony led by Ruto on Tuesday, October 27, according to the report.
The plant will use locally sourced materials to make clinker, the main ingredient in cement. Construction began in September, and operations are expected to start in mid-2027. It will be Kitui’s first cement factory and the county’s largest private investment, the report said.
Ruto also said Aliko Dangote once considered a cement plant in Kitui but chose Tanzania instead. He blamed the previous government for losing the investment, according to the report. Radarr Africa has not independently confirmed that account.
The project fits a wider contest to add clinker capacity in East Africa. Raval’s Cemtech unit opened a 6,000-tonne-a-day clinker plant in West Pokot County in 2024. Kenya added a 17.5% levy on imported clinker in 2023, a measure that favours producers who make their own clinker, Billionaires.Africa said. It placed Raval at the centre of a $600 million race among tycoons to build East African clinker capacity.
Raval moved from India to Kenya in 1981 at the age of 19. Devki’s brands include Simba Cement, National Cement and Maisha Mabati, and the group operates in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Billionaires.Africa also linked to earlier coverage of Raval’s tax disputes and political scrutiny. The article did not detail either and Radarr Africa has not reviewed that coverage.
The two project values, Sh70 billion from the president and Sh50 billion from the company, have not been reconciled in any source reviewed by Radarr Africa. The dollar conversions in this story are those used by Billionaires.Africa.
A separate Billionaires.Africa briefing on October 30 listed the Kitui plant among Kenyan industrial projects, alongside a planned $32 million sugar factory in Nandi County by Jaswant Rai. That briefing gave no further detail on the cement project.
