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The $100 million truck assembly being floated by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, in partnership with Sinotruk of China, has rolled out its first set of made-in-Nigeria trucks as plans for full production by the first quarter of 2018 continue.
The Project Manager, Dangote Group, Mr. Tijani Momodu, disclosed this on Tuesday during a media tour of the Lagos-based facility of the company known as Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Ltd. The company, which is 65 per cent owned by the Dangote Group and 35 per cent by Sinotruk, is currently producing between 4 to 5 units of trucks per day.
Momodu said, “By early next year, the cabin line will take off. The full production will take off early next year, that is the first quarter of 2018. Right now; by May this year, we will take start the cabin line as all paper works have been done.
“Hopefully, by February next year, we would have been through and start rolling out the cabin which of course is key to our production line. Once we have that, we are talking about full CKD.”
He also explained the complete process of vehicle manufacturing in the factory to the visiting journalists as he took them through the production line, including turning over machine, filling machine, inspection line, debugging workshops to finished products as well as the logistics area, workshop, training centre amongst other facilities.
Earlier during the facility tour, the Group General Manager, Dangote Projects, Hikmat Thapa, said the coming together of Dangote and Sinotruk to build the truck factory, which will assemble and produce a full range of commercial vehicles such as heavy duty trucks, medium trucks, light trucks and other semi-trailers, amongst others, is to meet an expected increasing demand from logistics, construction and other industries in the country .
Located along Oba Akran Avenue in Ikeja, Lagos, the Dangote truck assembly, according to Thapa, will assemble and produce 10,000 trucks annually even as it will create no fewer than 3,000 jobs for Nigerians.
He assured that the Dangote Sinotruk West Africa Ltd, which has the capacity to assemble and produce 16 trucks a day and export to other West African countries, will complement the Federal Government’s efforts of boosting the economic development of the country.
“We want to play our respective advantages to develop heavy-duty truck industry in Nigeria; provide new employment opportunities, improve local automobile technology, equipment and technology level, promote the economic development in Nigeria and Form a production base for heavy-duty trucks and commercial vehicles in West Africa,” he explained.
According to Thapa, with the formation of the production base, not only the market demands in Nigeria would be met, but also the requirements of covering the neighbouring countries will be gradually met, adding that the company would “make contributions to build friendly relationships between China and Nigeria.”
With current production standing at between 4 to 5 units of trucks per day, Thapa assured that when the full production processes come on stream, the factory has the capacity to produce 10,000 trucks per annum with 30 trucks expected to be rolled out of the assembly daily.
“Our current plan is 200 people; the next step will be 400 people; finally, we will employ 1,500 people while there will be 3,000 supporting employments,” Thapa said.
He disclosed that the company has initiated three steps of development, listing the steps to include: KD Assembling; a phase where the company produces and sells the heavy-duty truck at favorable prices, guaranteed quality and long service life, and provide systematic and professional after-sales service and adequate accessories. The other step, according to Thapa, is commercial production when the company would transfer the second-hand heavy-duty truck market into the brand new vehicle market in Nigeria. The final and third stage, he said, involves a regional commercial vehicle production base, a phase when Dangote Sinotruk would equally promote the development of the local auto industry, especially the heavy-duty truck industry.
Dangote Industries Limited, the largest manufacturing conglomerate in West Africa, was established in May, 1981 with products range covering cement, fertilizer, sugar, flour, salt, pasta and drinks, while it also provides services in petroleum, natural gas, automobile, communications and steel and iron.
Established in 1960, Sinotruk is the cradle of China’s heavy-duty truck, and the largest production and export base for heavy-duty truck in China. Sinotruk (Hong Kong) Limited, a publicly traded company in HKSE main board in 2007. With more than 48,000 employees, Sinotruk manufactures heavy duty truck, medium truck, light truck, bus, other special purpose trucks and military trucks.
