The Kwanza Sul Cement Plant (FCKS), which last Wednesday halted production, is expected to start operating within 50 days, as a “result of successful negotiations with the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Construction,” the company said in a statement released in Luanda.

The information is included in a statement from FCKS, in response to the official position announced on Friday by Angolan state oil and gas company Sonangol, which denied suspending the supply of fuel to the factory that has operated in Kwanza Sul province since 2014, and whose standstill, since 1 November, affects more than 900 workers.

The period of 50 days mentioned is the time needed to bring foreign staff back on board, according to the FCKS statement.

A statement issued last week, in which FCKS said it had a lack of fuel for clinker production, said that the outage meant the dismissal of 900 direct employees and the dispensation of 700 indirect employees.

In the second statement, FCKS said that Sonangol has increased the price of heavy diesel from 25 to 50 kwanzas per kilogramme after six months from the beginning of plant operations and in a subsequent four-month period to 91 kwanzas per kilogramme.

The company said this “speculation in the price of fuel” led to the downturn of its financial position and “the subsequent suspension of supplies of fuel,” which has dragged on since 2016.

On Friday, Sonangol denied ever suspending the supply of fuel to the cement plant in Kwanza Sul, stressing that “there was no decision” to halt supplies to “any other cement plant operating in Angola.” (macauhub)