Dangote breaks ground on $16bn Kenya refinery with Ruto and African leaders
Aliko Dangote and President William Ruto broke ground on the $16bn East Africa Oil Refinery at Lamu Port on Wednesday, a 700,000-barrels-per-day plant billed as Africa's industrial coming-of-age.
Aliko Dangote joined Kenyan President William Ruto on Wednesday to break ground on the $16bn East Africa Oil Refinery at Lamu Port, a 700,000-barrels-per-day plant aimed at cutting the region’s dependence on imported fuel (AFP).
The capacity would make it larger than any refinery in Europe, and Dangote framed the project as proof that Africa is “in charge of its own industrialisation”. “This is Africa coming together to build Africa,” he told the ceremony (AFP).
Ruto and Dangote were joined by regional leaders including Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni; Reuters also reported Togo’s Jean-Lucien Savi de Tové at the ceremony (Reuters via Devdiscourse).
The plant is due for completion in 2030. Dangote has offered regional governments a combined 30% stake, and a $450m engineering contract has gone to Engineers India Limited (Reuters via Devdiscourse).
Kenyan outlets put the cost at about Sh2.2 trillion, with employment estimates of 50,000 to 60,000 jobs (Kenyan Dispatch). The project faces a pending High Court land-preservation case at Lamu, though Dangote says it will not stop construction (Reuters via Devdiscourse).
Sources
- AFP via IOL: Africa’s richest man launches $16bn refinery in Kenya
- Reuters via Devdiscourse: Nigeria’s Dangote breaks ground on $16 billion East African oil refinery in Kenya
- Citizen Digital: 6 heads of state to attend groundbreaking of Lamu Oil refinery
- Kenyan Dispatch: Samia absent as Ruto hosts African leaders for Dangote Lamu refinery groundbreaking
More on this topic: all Business stories
