Ebun Olowu
Dangote Group’s $2 billion fertilizer plant project, which is in the final stage of construction in the commercial city of Lagos, is expected to be ready to start production by February 2021. This information was given by Saipem SpA, the main contractor to the project.
The fertilizer plant, owned by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, is located in the Lekki district of Lagos with a name-plate capacity of 3 million tons of urea and ammonia, making it the world’s biggest. This facility is also within the vicinity of the 650,000 barrels a day Dangote oil refinery, which is also still under construction.
The Chief Operating Officer for Saipem SpA, Maurizio Coratella, said that test run of the facility, which started in March, was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic that led to economic lockdown and restrictions. He however pointed out that with a more stable outlook, things were picking up at the moment.
Corotella, in an interview, said, “We are picking up now that things are looking more stable and are currently very well advanced. We are in the commissioning stage of the first train, for the second, we will have that commissioning in six to seven months time.”
He also said that Dangote was making special arrangements, such as setting up dedicated flights for vendors and suppliers to enable it meet the completion deadline.
The main contractor, Saipem SpA, has been involved in business operations in Nigeria for over 50 years, with interests in some sectors such as oil & gas and power.
Its current project in the southern part of Nigeria, the 430 megawatt power plant, is expected to start operations in the next couple of weeks. The company is also involved in the rehabilitation of the 4 refineries in the country.
