Nigerian billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote met with President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare on Wednesday and signed a framework investment agreement with the Zimbabwean government.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba said the talks were exploratory, and no specific project deals were finalised during the meeting.
Dangote has visited Zimbabwe before, in 2015 and 2018, showing interest in cement production and energy projects, but no concrete investments emerged from those trips.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Dangote, whose fortune is estimated at around US$30 billion, said he was encouraged by the economic reforms being implemented under President Mnangagwa. He said:
“There are quite a lot of changes. Now the government is solid. There is a lot of transparency.
“Also, when you look at what His Excellency (President Mnangagwa) has done in terms of turning the economy around, that really gave us the confidence that this is the right time for us to come and invest.
“We have signed an agreement between Zimbabwe and Dangote Group to do various investments in various sectors, some of which are in cement, some in power generation, some in a pipeline to bring petroleum products.
“We are in the business of producing oil. We have the largest refinery in the world and a couple of other investments which we are looking at.
“It is a broad investment, really, in hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even up to a billion. But really, it will be over a billion because of the pipeline.”
Charamba said the deal signed on Wednesday is a broad, global agreement that could open the door to investments of around US$1 billion, but stressed that no specific projects were agreed on yet. He said:
“What was signed was a global agreement which may pave the way to investments of about US$1 billion; no agreement on any specific deal was signed today.”
The Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the world’s biggest single-train refinery, is building storage tanks in Namibia that will hold at least 1.6 million barrels of petrol and diesel for distribution across southern Africa.
The fuel is set to supply Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, with potential plans to reach the southern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo as well.
Dangote was accompanied by Senziwani Sikhosana, CEO of Bard Santner, and journalist-turned-business adviser Josephine Mahachi.
After wrapping up his meetings with President Mnangagwa, Dangote headed off to Zambia.
More: ZimLive
Leave a Reply Cancel reply