Multiple sources including Forbes have reported that Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote has shut down his $500 million cement plant in Tanzania citing high energy costs and a technical glitch.
According to a government source who confirmed the reports in Tanzanian media., senior officials at Dangote Industries Tanzania have complained about the government’s failure to provide the company with cheap fuel and other logistical solutions.
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Dangote Cement had previously requested the government-owned energy company, the Tanzania petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), to supply its Mtwara-based cement plant with natural gas at significantly subsidized prices – a request the government body turned down.
Dangote cement spends as much as $4 million on diesel every month powering its cement factory.
“Our plant uses six million liters of diesel per month to run generators after the promises to supply it with natural gas, which is produced in a nearby gas field, failed to materialize,” Dangote Tanzania CEO, Harpeet Duggal, had told a group of politicians in October.
(Various Sources)
