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Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote's N$41 billion ($2.5 billion) fuel terminal and pipeline project at Walvis Bay has no disclosed Namibian equity partner, even as a bill now before parliament would reserve fuel storage for businesses owned by Namibians.
The project, launched by President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on Nov. 4, will store fuel from Dangote's refinery in Lagos and feed a planned 1,700-kilometer pipeline network running inland and into neighboring countries. Construction is expected to take 18 to 20 months. No stake for the Namibian government, the state oil company Namcor or the Government Institutions Pension Fund has been made public.
What the bill says
Namibia's Investment Promotion and Facilitation Bill, tabled in parliament in early November after a decade of drafting that began in 2016, lists fuel road haulage and storage among the activities reserved for Namibian citizens, permanent residents and Namibian-controlled companies.
The bill also reserves retail and farming businesses worth less than N$7.5 million, construction contracts below N$200 million, customs clearing, equipment rental, small guesthouses, campsites, taxis and salons. Foreign investors in engineering and architecture consultancies, marine fishing, forestry and hotels worth up to N$200 million would need Namibian partners holding at least 33.3%. New investments and ownership changes in mining, oil and gas would need ministerial approval.
Passive holdings such as shares listed on the Namibian Stock Exchange, bonds and unit trusts are exempt.
Industries, Mines and Energy Minister Modestus Amutse said the legislation "seeks to establish clearer rules for domestic and foreign investors."
Kenya and Ethiopia took stakes
Dangote's deals elsewhere on the continent have given host governments or local investors a share. In Ethiopia, his group signed a shareholders' agreement in August 2025 for a $2.5 billion fertilizer complex in which state-owned Ethiopian Investment Holdings holds 40% and Dangote Group 60%.
In Kenya, where Dangote plans a $16 billion refinery at Lamu designed to process 700,000 barrels a day, the government has been allocated a proposed 10% stake. "If other governments are not going to take up, we can increase that," Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said. Dangote's group also announced on Oct. 21 that it had bought a 24.76% stake in Kenya Pipeline Co., worth about $335 million, becoming its second-largest shareholder.
The Walvis Bay project nearly slipped away before it was signed. At the launch, Nandi-Ndaitwah said government delays had frustrated Dangote's team and that she had to call him personally to persuade him to stay. She moved the project under the Office of the President to keep it on track.
Dangote's wider push
Dangote, Africa's richest person, has said his group's investment program across the continent could reach $70 billion. His 650,000-barrel-a-day refinery outside Lagos, which started production in 2024, is the anchor for the export network he is building from Namibia to East Africa, and the refinery is now selling shares to the public in an initial public offering in Nigeria.
Opposition lawmakers in Namibia warned last year that the pipeline could put local fuel businesses at risk.
Figures were converted at N$16.6 to the dollar.
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