Nigeria Breweries Plc to Commission Aba Can Line

Nigeria Breweries (NB) plc, a foremost brewing outfit in Nigeria, is set to commission an ultra-modern ‘can line’ at its Aba brewery plant, BusinessDay authoritatively can reveal.

The can line is one of the projects being executed in the ongoing expansion of the plant, which is expected to scale up the production capacity of the plant from 1.2 million hectolitres (HL) to 2.4 HL per annum in 2014. The project is estimated to gulp about N17 billion.

Ukeje Udah, Aba brewery manager in an interview with BusinessDay in Aba, revealed that the plant will start producing can products before the end of this year (2013). Also ready for commissioning is a new water treatment plant.
 
According to Udah, the expansion that is going on in Aba brewery is huge and being done in section.

“The canning line is currently on start up. We have carried out series of tests on it – including I.O test, water test and we are now fine tuning to get it ready for commissioning and very soon we will have can products coming out from that line and that will be before the end of this year,” he said.

Udah however stated that the new brewery house, which would have been commissioned alongside the canning line, will now be commissioned in the first quarter of 2014, a development he attributed to delays in getting materials from abroad. Also to be commissioned next year is the waste water treatment plant.

“We have gone a long way in the civil works and very soon all the machines will be in. By next year we will be commissioning that,” he affirmed.

On the rehabilitation of roads within industry road, site of the factory, Udah explained that the state government made a commitment to rehabilitate the Onyeador Road, noting that government had made good its promise by awarding the road to a contractor, but revealed that work on the project stalled along the line due to civil issues.

He however revealed that the contractor and the state’s commissioner for works had confirmed that work will soon start on the project.

The Aba plant of the NB contributes 51 percent of products in the South-South area of the country and contributes 21 percent of the total volume of the company’s products in the country.

The plant brews the following brands -Star 60cl, Gulder, Legend Extra Stout, Multina, Amstel Malta and Farouz.

By: GODFREY OFURUM