Monday, October 6, 2014

TANZANIA: Dangote’s Surging Cement Activities Propel Tanzanian Coal Investment

Investment in coal production is gaining momentum in Dangote Group’s business drive across Africa as the company’s President; Aliko Dangote promised to invest an undisclosed sum in Mbinga mine, a major coal mine in the Southwest of Tanzania.

The new investment was made known by Aliko Dangote at a meeting with the Vice president of Tanzania, Dr. Mohammed Gharib Bilal during the Africa Global Business Forum in Dubai.

According to the reclusive billionaire, the coal produced from the Mbinga mine will be used to energize his Mtwara cement plant which is currently under construction. It will also be used to aid transportation of cement across Tanzania’s borders.

The Mtwara cement plant, which is expected to be a primary driver in Tanzania’s economic growth, will produce three million tonnes of cement per year while coal investment in the transportation sector will create about 3,000 employment opportunities; Tanzania’s Guardian newspaper reported.

This is not Dangote’s first investment in coal production as an alternative power source for his cement factories; In August, the business mogul announced a $250 million investment to build coal-fired power plants in its Obajana, Ibeshe and Gboko plants in Nigeria..

He is also planning to invest another $12 billion in the Nigerian economy, for which more power plants and a $9 billion refinery should spring up.

In his Eid-el-Kabir message over the weekend, the business magnate said he will invest $2.3 billion in sugar and rice production in Adamawa State to create about 180,000 jobs and combat terrorism in the North-East of the country. Another $4 billion will be invested in other parts of Africa in the next five years, he said.

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