The most important developments in sub-Saharan Africa. Six days a week.
Gabon launched construction of a clinker and cement plant at Malibé, near Libreville, with a foundation-stone ceremony on 20 October. The project, worth at least 114 billion CFA francs (about $195 million), pairs a clinker line of about one million tonnes a year with a cement mill of similar capacity; Hope Global Investment and Hong Kong-based Conch Investment Holding will finance, build and run it. Gabon has imported all its clinker since local output stopped in 2014, and the government has banned clinker imports from 1 January 2027. Local clinker would cut import costs for cement makers and builders, but no completion date has been set, so the ban may take effect before the plant produces.
Ethiopia's Ministry of Mines signed an agreement with Chinese firms GCL Group and Jurong Group on 16 October to build the second phase of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at the Calub field in the Ogaden Basin, GCL disclosed on 19 October. Jurong will provide construction, storage and gas processing; the contract value, added capacity and timetable were not disclosed. The first phase, commissioned in October 2025, turns 200,000 cubic metres of gas a day into about 50,000 tonnes of LNG a year for domestic industry. The second phase is also meant to serve export markets, but landlocked Ethiopia has no confirmed export route, and earlier plans to send Ogaden gas through Djibouti have not materialised.
