CONGO’s government and the Norwegian cement group Scancem have signed an agreement to renew production in the central African country. The Brazzaville government and the Norwegian company, which had withdrawn in 1996, on Thursday signed the deal to set up a new firm, Les Ciments du Congo, which will take the assets of the former SOCICO company. These include the Loutete factory near the capital and storage silos at Brazzaville and in the Atlantic coast port of Pointe-Noire. Scancem had been a majority shareholder in SOCICO, with 55% of the capital to 45% for the state, but pulled out in 1996 in protest against interference by the ministry of industry in the management of SOCICO. Scancem will liquidate the rights of the 400 employees, who have been out of work since 1996, and repair the Loutete factory, damaged by fighting between Presicent Denis Sassou Nguesso’s army and rebel militias, as well as the cement silos. The Loutete factory has a production capacity of 250000 tons a year. Congo’s annual requirement for cement is evaluated at 500000 tons. The country imports cement from neighbouring Gabon and Democratic Republic of Congo.