Pakistan-based Lucky Cement Ltd has formed a joint venture with Groupe Rawji of Democratic Republic of Congo to build a one million tonne capacity cement plant in the African nation. Factories in Congo produce 7,80,000 tonne of cement annually, less than a quarter of the annual requirement of 3.2 million tonne. The construction would start within the next 3-5 years and would be completed in three years. Lucky Cement will pay $40 million for a 50 per cent stake in the project. As much as 54 per cent of the $175 million cost for the factory will be raised through debt from multilateral institutions. The demand for cement has increased manifold in Congo due to country’s determination to rebuild the infrastructure, which was destroyed in more than a decade of war that started in the mid-1990s.