Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote joins Namibia’s president to launch a Walvis Bay fuel tank farm and regional pipeline project

Aliko Dangote is due to join Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on Wednesday to launch the Dangote Namibia Tank Farm and Regional Pipeline Project at Farm 58 outside Walvis Bay, a fuel storage and distribution development that Dangote Industries says is meant to serve Namibia and neighboring Southern African markets.

The ceremony, to be officiated by Nandi-Ndaitwah and attended by government representatives, regional and local leaders and industry stakeholders, marks the formal start of a project first floated last year. The facility will store at least 1.6 million barrels of petrol and diesel, according to earlier Reuters reporting, and will have two main storage tanks, two dispensing tanks, a truck port and an approximately 16-kilometer pipeline connecting the fuel jetty to the tank farm, Namibia Oil and Gas reported.

Beyond the tank farm, the planned regional pipeline would extend inland from Walvis Bay to Otjiwarongo and on to Rundu, with a connection toward Ghanzi in Botswana. It is intended as an alternative to moving fuel long distances by road, which could cut heavy tanker traffic and wear on roads. The Observer 24 reported that Dangote has outlined a wider network of roughly 2,500 to 2,650 kilometers, estimated at more than $3.5 billion, linking Namibia through Botswana toward South Africa, with another corridor through Zimbabwe and Zambia to the Democratic Republic of Congo. In November 2025, Dangote signed an agreement with Zimbabwe worth more than $1 billion that included a pipeline from Walvis Bay to Bulawayo.

The project has moved in stages. Dangote met Nandi-Ndaitwah in Windhoek on June 19, 2025, and toured the port of Walvis Bay. Namibia’s Cabinet approved the storage project in September 2025, and Dangote Industries Namibia later began the environmental approval process for the terminal, Namibia Mining and Energy reported. An allAfrica report in November put the tank farm at about $140 million (N$2.4 billion), citing a Namibian source, and noted that opposition figures had warned the pipeline could put Namibian businesses at risk.

Supporters say the project will strengthen Namibia’s fuel supply security by expanding storage and could reinforce Walvis Bay’s position as a logistics and trade gateway to neighboring countries. The notice also says it is expected to create opportunities for local businesses in construction, engineering, logistics, transportation and maintenance, along with skills development.

The details that matter most are not in the announcement. It does not give a construction timetable, a financing structure or the size of the first phase of the pipeline beyond the 16-kilometer link to the jetty. Those, along with any figure Dangote gives at the ceremony, are the points to watch.