President William Ruto and Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote have today broken ground for the construction of a Sh2.2 trillion oil refinery in Lamu County, a project expected to strengthen Kenya’s energy security and reduce the region’s dependence on imported refined petroleum products.
Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony in Lamu, President Ruto said the government is committed to supporting the project, which is expected to have a refining capacity of 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
“We have heard you, Aliko Dangote, that you have said we will be back here in 40 months to come and open this refinery,” said Ruto, urging the investor to meet the completion timeline.
Ruto said the government will also invest in the refinery through the National Infrastructure Fund, while urging Kenyans to take advantage of the planned opportunity to invest in the project.
“The government is going to have a stake in the refinery and we are going to deploy assets. We do not want anything for free,” said Ruto. “We are going to use the National Infrastructure Fund to invest in this refinery. Kenyans of all walks, I want to ask you, you have an opportunity of a lifetime to invest in this refinery.”
Dangote said the refinery will form part of a wider industrialisation programme aimed at ensuring African countries add value to their raw materials instead of exporting them and importing finished products.
“For too long our continent has actually been rich in resources but poor in value creating addition. We have exported crude oil and imported refined products. We have exported minerals and imported manufactured goods,” said Dangote
He added that the refinery would help create employment opportunities and attract additional investments around the facility, with the project expected to create thousands of jobs.
“What this investment (Lamu refinery) will do for the Kenyans, it’s not only the refinery; the refinery is like the gate. Once you open and have the refinery, you’ll be shocked at how many people will come and invest in Kenya,” said Dangote.
Dangote further said the facility will generate about 1,000 megawatts of electricity, with 500 megawatts expected to be supplied to the Kenyan government.
“What we are going to have, the power plant in Lamu will be actually double (the one in Nigeria) because we are going to produce about 1000 megawatts in Lamu out of petcoke and we’ll have 500 megawatts to sell to the government of Kenya,” he said.
The refinery is expected to take about 40 months to complete and will supply petroleum products to Kenya and other countries in East Africa. Dangote has also offered regional governments a combined 30 percent stake in the project.
The project, however, comes amid a land dispute involving residents near the proposed site, with a Kenyan court having ordered the status quo at the site to be maintained pending further proceedings.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by several African leaders, including Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, as the refinery is being positioned as a regional project serving the wider East African market.
