Business Day: Africa LPG, German firm seal pact on N8.4bn gas cylinder plant

An indigenous firm, Africa Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Africa LPG) Equipment Company has signed a pact with Kautex Maschinenbau of Germany on establishment of a composite gas cylinder manufacturing plant in the country.

The plant, which would be the first composite gas cylinder manufacturing factory in sub-Saharan Africa, is estimated to gulp about N8.4 billion ($50m) and it would be sited in Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos.

The constriction and commissioning of the plant, which would take about 15 months, would help bring down the price of composite gas cylinders that now ranges between N20,000 and N22,000. It is also expected to crash the price of cylinders, encourage the conversion from steel cylinder to composite cylinder and ultimately bridge the huge gap in gas utilisation.

The plant, estimated to have capacity to produce 1,000,000 cylinders yearly, would take off with 150,000 products in the first phase, then progress to 500,000 and ultimately 1,000,000.
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