An indigenous conglomerate, the Bua Group, has resumed discussions with a Chinese firm, Sinoma International Engineering Company, on plans to construct a steel plant in Nigeria and two cement factories in East Africa.

The Chairman, Bua Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu, stated this on Thursday and gave the total cost of the projects as $1.9bn (about N374bn at the official exchange rate of N197 to the dollar).

Sinoma, which is said to be the only enterprise that possesses the core technology and a complete innovation system in the non-metallic material industry in China, had last year reportedly signed a $4.34bn deal with the Dangote Group to build various cement plants across Africa.

A report by Reuters indicated that each of the Bua steel plant, with capacity for 1.2 million tonnes, would cost $1.2bn, while the two cement plants, which would have an annual capacity of three million tonnes, would cost $700m.

Although the report stated that the steel plants would be located in Nigeria, the specific locations and when they would be completed. Our correspondent learnt that the talks on the two cement plants commenced last year.