Africa’s richest man plots investments in Zimbabwe
By Ndakaziva Majaka
HARARE – Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has announced plans to invest in Zimbabwe’s power and mining sectors, saying he also intends to construct a 1,5 million tonne per annum cement grinding plant in the southern African country.
The richest man in Africa told delegates at the State House, where he paid a courtesy call on President Robert Mugabe, that he was awaiting the relevant approvals to set up the investments.
“We have already decided on multi-million investments in Zimbabwe in three sectors which are power, cement and coal mining. As soon as we get permits, we will hit the ground running,” said Dangote, whose net worth is estimated at $17,2 billion by Forbes magazine.
The mogul, who earlier in the day met several government ministers, also said Zimbabwe had promised to accelerate the licence and registration processes for the group to start operations “as soon as possible”.
The president of the Dangote Group, which has interests in cement manufacturing, food processing, oil and is gunning to buy English Premier League team Arsenal, is expected to start setting up the 1,5 million tonne per annum plant by the end of the first half of 2016.
Dangote Industries is also expected to invest in Zimbabwean power generation through Black Rhino Group, a $5 billion African infrastructure fund in which US private-equity group Blackstone Group LP is a co-investor.
The major chunk of Dangote’s investments outside his native Nigeria have mostly been in the cement manufacturing sector. He recently commissioned a $420 million cement-manufacturing plant and a 30-megawatt coal-fired plant in Zambia early this month.
As he was in Zimbabwe yesterday, Dangote Cement commissioned its $250 million 1,5 million metric tonnes per annum cement grinding plant in Douala, Cameroon, barely three weeks after the Zambia plant was commissioned.
According to Dangote, the cement manufacturing unit, Dangote Cement — which has expanded capacity five-fold in the last four years — plans to double potential output to 80 million tonnes by year end, with the Zimbabwean approvals in sight.
“We want to set up an integrated cement plant here that will be bigger than all the plants that we have,” he said.
“We look at setting up something that can translate into a million-and-a-half tonnes so that even when we continue to use cement, there won’t be a shortage of cement here. We will make cement available,” Dangote told journalists in the capital after meeting with Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
He urged government to open up the country and scrap rigid visa requirements.
Nigeria is classified a “Group C” country in Zimbabwe, meaning Nigerian nationals need to apply for visas before coming to Zimbabwe, which according to Dangote is hampering investment.
“My last call to the minister of Tourism, Honourable Mzembi, is that he works at investing in an open air system so that investors can enter into the country freely,” the businessman said at Mzembi’s Harare offices.
The billionaire’s maiden Zimbabwean visit comes after Dangote Cement last week signed contracts with Chinese construction company Sinoma International Engineering to add 25 million metric tonnes across 11 countries. Daily News
