Cameroon will get a fertilizer plant and cement factory worth $334.3 million following a decision by Chinese companies to invest in the Central African country.

Chinese construction firm CGC will build the fertilizer plant using local natural gas to produce 80,000 tonnes of ammonia and 130,000 tonnes of urea per year for use in fertilizer.

The country wants to exploit  its large reserves of natural gas.

CGC is involved in a number of industrial construction projects in Africa, including building Ethiopia's first glass factory earlier this year.

Aero-Technology International Engineering Corportation (CATI-ENG) clinched the deal to build a cement factory that will help plug a cement shortage in Cameroon.

The country currently  produces only 750,000 tonnes of cement per year, far short of demand estimated at 3 million tonnes a year.

Cameroon, a former French colony, is the dominant economy in the six-nation central African CFA franc zone, exporting crude oil, bananas, cocoa and cotton. It also has rich deposits of bauxite, iron ore, cobalt, nickle and uranium.

Meanwhile the African Union has asked China not to reduce its investment and aid to African countries, and also expressed concern about the effect on the continent of slower economic growth in China.