To ward off the mounting competition from local firms and to turn to new markets for growth Kenya’s third largest cement manufacturer, Athi River Mining plans to build a cement factory in South Africa next year. Pradeep Paunrana, Managing Director, Athi River Mining, said "By next year we would be completing our Tanzania plant, and will start construction of our new plant in South Africa". Athi River has an annual cement production capacity of 650,000 tonne and expects to finish construction on a 1.5 million tonne per year plant in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam next year. Athi River plans to raise its proportion of revenues from outside Kenya to more than half in the next few years from 20 per cent now.