Dangote to establish 630MW plant

AFRICA’s richest man Mr Aliko Dangote has registered his trading company, Dangote Holdings, in Zimbabwe and plans to build a 630MW thermal power station, The Sunday Mail has established.

The plant would be Zimbabwe’s third-largest after Hwange Thermal and Kariba Hydro power stations, which have generation capacity of 920MW and 750MW respectively.

The Nigerian tycoon’s team was in Harare last week to discuss ventures in coal mining, energy and cement manufacturing.

Authorities set up the Inter-Agency Platform, co-ordinated by the Office of the President and Cabinet, to handle the investments.

The Agency is headed by Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Mr Justin Mupamhanga. In an interview, Zimbabwe Investment Authority chair Mr Nigel Chanakira said, “During our discussions with them, they expressed interest in setting up a power plant, producing 600 megawatts for the national grid. The remaining 30MW would be for their own consumption.

“It has been suggested that for the power plant, the Dangote team can enter into joint ventures with locals who have already acquired independent power producers’ licences. About 18 such licences have been issued, but only three IPPs are producing power. This would speed up setting up the plant; however, it is entirely up to the Dangote team to decide if they want to enter into such partnerships.”

Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabient Dr Ray Ndhlukula said, “The Inter-Agency Platform, headed by Mr Mupamhanga, will work specifically for Dangote projects. It will aim to erase all bottlenecks to ensure all projects are successfully implemented. It includes other senior officials such as permanent secretaries from the respective ministries who will attend to pertinent issues and reduce the time, or put in place the necessary waivers. “They have already hit the ground running and they are holding meetings to facilitate all the necessary processes for the deals to succeed.”

Mr Dangote’s team is this week scheduled to submit proposals after which project implementation starts. During his visit to Zimbabwe two weeks ago, Mr Dangote said the envisaged power plant would be funded through the Black Rhino investment vehicle, which has capital up to US$5 billion. “You know, we have this fund, which is a joint venture between Dangote and Blackstone, which is Black Rhino in Africa here. We have US$5 billion with them.

“It’s one of the vehicles that we want to bring to do the power generation,” Mr Dangote said after meeting President Mugabe in Harare.