Addis Ababa tackles cement shortage.

The Addis Ababa cement factory may be reactivated ten years after its closure for environmental reasons in a bid to meet the current cement shortfall in the country. Ethiopia currently produces 1.6 million tonnes of cement per year, while demand stands at around 2.4 million tonnes according to the business weekly Fortune. With its ambitious low-cost condominium housing construction programme, the Addis Ababa city administration has become the countrys largest consumer, with projected consumption accounting for over half the national output. However, due to the shortage cement is becoming increasingly expensive and the city council is looking for alternative supplies. Besides reactivating the Addis Ababa cement factory, other options include importing ready-made cement and clinker, an ingredient of cement. Activities at the Addis Ababa cement factory were restricted in the 1990s after local residents complained that their homes were being showered with by-products of the clinker production process. Since then, the factory has limited itself to grinding clinker produced in the more environmentally friendly Mugar plant, the countrys largest cement factory in Oromia region around 100 km from the capital.