A group of Chinese businesspeople is ready to invest 960 million meticals (about US$15.1 million) in building a cement works in the central Mozambican province of Zambézia, Rádio Moçambique reports.

A representative of the investors said in a interview that construction work should begin once the environmental impact had been assessed, a process which should take six months or less, according to a report broadcast by the Mozambican state-run radio station on Tuesday.

The cement works in Namacurra district’s Macuse region may employ about 200 people, Rádio Moçambique quotes the representative as saying.

In January a Mozambican newspaper, Jornal Notícias, reported that state-owned China National Materials Group had begun making cement and clinker at its Dugongo Cimentos works in Maputo.

In June another newspaper, Carta de Moçambique, reported that the Dugongo Cimentos output had driven down the retail price of a bag of cement by 42 per cent.