NAIROBI (Reuters) - Athi River Mining, Kenya's third-largest cement maker, intends to build a 29 megawatt coal-fired power plant for about $50 million, Managing Director Pradeep Paunrana said on Wednesday. The company said it planned to import South African coal for the plant -- expected to be ready by December 2011. Some of the electricity will be used at its coastal plant, and the remaining 19 MW offloaded to the Kenya Power & Lighting Company. "The project is a clean coal-fired power plant. It will be set up next to our cement plant in Kaloleni," Paunrana told Reuters by telephone. "We will be saving $2 million per year (by generating our own power)." He said that the company has not secured all the financing but has been in talks with KPLC to buy the extra power for $130 per megawatt. "It's a long-term project. We are talking to the IFC (International Finance Corporation) and the European Investment Bank and others in the region specialising in infrastructure." Cement accounts for half of ARM's business. It also manufactures fertiliser and industrial and chemical products. Paunrana projected cement production would go up to 650,000 tonnes by January 2010 from 360,000 tonnes in 2008. The company is building a 1.5 million tonne cement factory in Tanzania. At 1000 GMT, ARM's stock was selling at an average 92.50 shillings per share. On Friday, Kenya's largest electricity company said that the east African nation planned to add 2,000 MW of environmentally-friendly energy by 2013, investing $7-$8 billion. . | 
