Angola is experiencing a rate of growth never seen before. An integral part of this expansion is construction; the building of new houses, new offices, new hospitals, new schools, and more. Currently, the country must import over $300 million in ceramic construction materials alone.
One of the major initiatives by the government’s Ministry of Urbanism and Construction is to reduce dependence on foreign imports. Currently, Angola has a 75% deficit in construction materials. The production of materials by Uniceramica is part of the solution to decrease that deficit.
Uniceramica manufactures everything from bricks and tiles to porcelain products for bathrooms. The company presently owns seven operational factories, three of which are managed by public companies and four by the private sector. Plans for further expansion include the construction of 20 new factories slated to open in 2011.
Uniceramica’s two brick factories in Kwanza Sul produce a total of 9,000 bricks a day, another two in Luanda produce 40,000, and the Huambo factory has an output of 20,000 units. By the end of the year, the company hopes production at this factory will increase to 35,000 bricks.
Once assembled and deployed, 13 of these factories are expected to have an average daily output of 50,000 units each. Despite this massive increase in capacity, Angola’s demand will only be met by 20%. NOVICER, a joint venture with Mota-Engil, will be a $35 million factory in the Cacuaco area of Luanda capable of fabricating an average quantity of 90,000 bricks a day.
Other factories in this expansion plan will produce paint and varnish, as well as porcelain.
While the central Engineering Laboratory of Angola handles the quality control aspect of the operation currently, Uniceramica is also investing on its own to do the same. “We think that from 2011 we will have six quality control labs to control the quality of our final production and a central one to meet the needs of Luanda,” explains Uniceramica’s Director General, Artur Alves da Silva Mota.
Despite the company’s busy agenda of building and operating factories, Mr. Mota explains that eventually these are to be handed over to the private sector. “Let me emphasize that this company’s role is to first open doors then advance and promote production where the private sector is not present yet. Once an industry is established we would like to introduce the market to private players for investment and expansion.”
Angola is open for all types of investment. Ceramics is an especially lucrative sector, given the country’s rate of growth. “All private national and foreign investors are welcome to Angola,” says Mr. Mota. “Moreover, it is a huge market with export possibilities to neighboring countries that don’t have access to the products and facilities that we have.”
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