Impressed by the vastness of the Dangote Refinery currently under construction in Lagos, Nigeria, the High Commissioner of the United Republic of Tanzania to Nigeria, Muhidini Ally Mboweto, has sought the assistance of the Africa’s foremost entrepreneur, Aliko Dangote, in the development of his country’s energy sector, specifically petroleum.
The Commissioner, who led a delegation from Tanzania High Commission and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation on a study tour of Dangote Refinery and Fertilizer plants to seek collaboration between Dangote Group and the Tanzanian government in making the country self-sufficient in petroleum products, said his country needs similar investment.
Specifically, the ambassador appealed to Aliko Dangote to replicate his huge investment in the country’s cement and refinery industries into Tanzania’s petroleum refining sector.
Speaking after the tour of the Refinery and Fertiliser plants, Mboweto said Tanzania possesses vast natural resources and is endowed with unique comparative advantages, thus offering exceptionally attractive opportunities to investors.
The ambassador flaunted Tanzania’s minerals potential, which are gas, gold, diamonds, and gemstones, including tanzanite, base metals and a host of other minerals.
He disclosed that Tanzania has bilateral trade agreements with eight countries it shares borders with, including the Indian Ocean, describing them as potential markets for investors.
Mboweto stated: “Tanzania has a politically stable economy; it is surrounded by eight countries and six are landlocked, so their ports depend on Tanzania.
“Also, we are member to East Africa Community, which include Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.
“We are also part of a 16-country members with an average of 400 million people.
“So, when invest you in Tanzania, you are exposed to these huge potential.
“It is really worth investing in Tanzania because it will expose you to a large market.
“We want him (Dangote) to expand his investment in other areas of the economy.
“We have varieties of minerals, diamond, gold and other areas.
“You can invest in wildlife.
“We also have a lot of tourist attractions.”
Mboweto commended Dangote for helping to reduce the price of cement in Tanzania through his massive investment in the country’s cement industry.
He added: “Dangote Cement is already in Tanzania and the plant is doing very well.
“So, the Dangote cement plant has made a huge contribution to our cement demand.
“Now majority of people in Tanzania can access cement for their building construction.”
Production Manager, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation, Modestus Martin Lumato, called on Aliko Dangote to partner the Tanzania oil company to set up a refinery plant in the country.
Lumato said about six countries are depending on Tanzania for petroleum products, thus the need for the collaboration between the two countries.
He said: “The Tanzanian petroleum product market is huge.
“We are also looking forward to buying petroleum products from Nigeria when the refinery is completed.”
Presenting the status of the refinery project, Head, Quality Assurance /Quality Control, Dangote Oil Refinery Company Limited, Rama Rao Putta, disclosed that erection of the refinery equipment has started.
Putta listed some of the equipment which have arrived at the site of the Dangote Refinery to include the RFCC Reactor Regenerator being shipped by Hyundai Heavy Industries, Propylene Recovery Unit, Penex Stabilizer, Penex Feed Surge Drum, RFCC riser and Heat Exchanger.
Putta described the project as the largest single train petroleum refinery in the world with capacity to process 650,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
He said the refinery will lead to the protection of forex revenue of around $16 billion a year at current market prices and saving of $10 billion a year through domestic supplies of petroleum products.
Putta said the refinery is going to create 100,000 indirect employments through retail outlets and ease availability of petroleum products in the country.
He noted that the company has completed the training of the first and second batches of Nigerian Engineers in India and that the employees were being acclimatised at site.