Investment in Six Projects’ll Generate $15bn Annually —Dangote

• Investment in Six Projects’ll Generate $15bn Annually 

Against the background of the current paucity of forex, the Dangote Group has said it is currently driving six major projects, which will generate foreign exchange earnings of about $15n annually for the nation.

The group, according to its President, Aliko Dangote, is investing a total of $20bn in six key projects.

According to a statement by the African conglomerate on Tuesday, Dangote while addressing students of the Executive MBA and Owner Manager Programme of the Lagos Business School in Lagos on the topic: ‘The role of business in driving sustainable development in Africa -The story of the Dangote Group’.

He listed the projects as a refinery and petrochemical plant, subsea gas pipeline, fertilizer plant, rice production, sugar production and capacity expansion of the cement production subsidiary.

Dangote explained that the refinery and petrochemical project, with capacity to process 650,000 barrels of day of crude oil and which will gulp $11bn, would ensure fuel sufficiency in Nigeria, while the petrochemical plant would produce 1.3 metric tonnes of polypropylene and polyethylene per annum.

He said, “The fertilizer project, at a cost of $2bn, will contribute to national food security and sufficiency for Nigeria. It will produce 2.8 million tonnes of Urea per year.

“The EWOGGS pipeline project, on which $3bn will be sunk, located near Bonny Island to the Lekki Free Trade 4 zone will unlock significant gas supply for industry, and supply gas to generate 12,000MW of power.

“The rice project, a fully integrated rice production and processing operation with capacity to produce 960,000 metric tonnes of milled rice per annum, will meet 16 per cent of Nigeria’s rice need. It has two rice mills of 240,000 MT per season and two crop seasons in a year.”

Dangote stated that the rice project, estimated to gulp $1bn, would cover 150,000 hectares of land in Adamawa, Edo, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara states, with 40 per cent of the paddy to be provided by the Dangote Rice Outgrower Scheme.