LOCAL cement manufacturing companies are said to have been caught unawares by Nigerian business tycoon, Aliko Dangote's interest in extending his cement empire in Zimbabwe.

While the major players in the cement industry had long anticipated increased competition through new investments, Dangote's entry into Zimbabwe had been least expected.

Indeed, Pretoria Portland Cement (PPC) Zimbabwe indicated last year that it was bracing for competition by increasing its investment in the country.

Managing director, Njombo Lekula, said although PPC Zimbabwe was currently a dominant player in cement production, its position could suffer from increased investment in the sector by competitors who could eat into its share of the export market.

"This is not a very good picture," said Lekula, referring to new investments by rivals across the region.

At that time, Dangote Cement, which had moved into the neighbouring Zambia, had invested in a cement plant with a capacity of 1, 5 million tonnes per year, while Malawi's Shayona Cement had invested US$61 million in a new cement production plant at Wimbe.

The plants in Zambia and Malawi were both scheduled for commissioning this year.

Lekula had last year simply expected an incursion of cement products from neighbouring countries rather than a big-bang entry of a new manufacturer into Zimbabwe.

He said about investments by competitors: "What is going to happen is they will outstrip the demand of Zambia meaning that to find new territories we are prone to have their product coming to our territory."

Dangote, Africa's richest man, visited the country last week amid pomp and fanfare, indicating that besides the cement business, he was also planning to diversify his firm's interests into Zimbabwe's power generation and coal mining sectors.

Zimbabwe has three major players in cement production namely PPC Zimbabwe, Lafarge Zimbabwe -- a unit of French headquartered Lafarge Cement which two months ago merged with Swiss based Holcim International to create the largest buildings materials company in the world called Lafarge Holcim -- and Sino-Zimbabwe.

Lafarge Zimbabwe, formerly known as Circle Cement, is currently playing second fiddle to PPC, which is currently the largest cement manufacturer in the country, while Sino Zimbabwe is the smallest player.

PPC plans to boost its production capacity to 1,5 million tonnes per annum from the current 1,1 million tonnes per annum once it completes construction of its Msasa plant, which is expected to be commissioned in September next year.

Dangote said his planned investments in Zimbabwe would take off by the first quarter of next year in the event that government granted all the regulatory approvals.

Dangote's forays into Zimbabwe come at a time the country is under pressure to aggressively improve the overall business environment and investment climate to attract meaningful levels of investment.