Tononoka Rolling Mills Limited has laid plans to construct a Sh393 million plant in Nairobi’s Dandora Phase 5 area as it seeks to grow its market share in the local steel manufacturing market.
The proposed installation of a hot structural section mill will be set up in an area zoned for industrial use and currently features an existing rolling mill, office block, and fuel storage facility.
With an expected output of 20 tonnes per hour, the firm which began in the 1980s as a hardware dealer is targeting to bridge the country's annual demand for steel which is estimated at between 480,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes.
Over the years, the company has grown to include production of various steel products such as TMT bars, hollow sections, round deformed bars, sheets, plates, wire products, and angles among many other products.
The major steel-maker heavily relies on converting waste metal scrap into valuable reusable construction materials.
According to the environmental impact assessment study disclosing the project, the hot rolling section mill to be situated off Komarock Road will heat billets (primarily from scrap metals) to various finished products such as angle lines, channels, flats, square, beams, and IPE sections.
Other than satisfying the growing local demand, Tononoka Rolling Mills Limited is angling for the lucrative regional market.
“Statistics show that metal and steel products are currently Kenya’s largest manufactured goods exported within the Comesa and the East African Community (EAC),” they said in their EIA report.
The firm is owned by Kenyan industrialist Navin Savla. While it is estimated that the country spends about Sh60 billion per year on importation of steel), Tononoka Steel has noted that the import bill can be reduced if high-quality steel is produced locally.
