Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote's $2.5 billion Namibia project awaits environmental clearance application

Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote's N$41 billion ($2.5 billion) fuel terminal and pipeline project in Namibia has yet to file for the environmental clearance it needs before construction can start, the country's environment ministry said.

The ministry said it has not yet received an application for an environmental clearance certificate for the Walvis Bay project. The disclosure comes less than two weeks after President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah launched the development with Dangote's team at the port town on Nov. 4.

Under Namibia's Environmental Management Act, projects such as fuel storage terminals and pipelines cannot be built without a clearance certificate, which is issued by the environmental commissioner after an impact assessment and public consultation.

Land first, terminal later

Dangote Industries Namibia Ltd. started the regulatory process in August, but only for the land. Its first application covered the subdivision of about 70 hectares of industrial land on Farm 58 in Walvis Bay into six development parcels, plus land for public roads and municipal use.

The scoping report for that application said the "current application is limited to the subdivision of the site required for the development." Construction of the storage facility itself cannot proceed until a separate environmental impact assessment is completed and approved.

The planned terminal will hold 1.6 million barrels of petrol and diesel shipped from Dangote's refinery in Lagos. Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the target markets, with the southern Democratic Republic of Congo under consideration. A pipeline network of about 1,700 kilometers would carry fuel inland and across borders.

A project already rescued once

Officials have said construction will take 18 to 20 months once work begins.

The project has already been through one round of delays. At the Nov. 4 launch, Nandi-Ndaitwah said slow government approvals 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 schedule.

The plan also faces a policy test. Namibia's Investment Promotion and Facilitation Bill, now before parliament, lists fuel storage among activities reserved for Namibian citizens and Namibian-controlled companies. No Namibian stake in the Walvis Bay project has been disclosed.

Dangote, Africa's richest person, is building a fuel export network around his 650,000-barrel-a-day refinery outside Lagos, which is now selling shares to the public in Nigeria. He has said his group's investments across the continent could reach $70 billion.

Figures were converted at N$16.6 to the dollar.