Dangote signs deal with Zimbabwe to build 2,000km-long pipeline from Namibia

In a move set to reshape Southern Africa’s industrial landscape, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote has struck a landmark US$1 billion investment deal with Zimbabwe.

The project includes a fertiliser plant and 2,000km-long pipeline from Namibia’s Walvis Bay, through Botswana, to Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, Bulawayo.

Dangote met with President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare on Wednesday to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, marking one of the most significant private-sector investments in the country in years.

The deal underscores growing investor confidence in Mnangagwa’s economic reform agenda and brings the powerful West African conglomerate, headed by Africa’s richest man, deeper into the southern region.

"The broader investment is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even more than a billion, but you know we will tell you the amount as we go along, But really it will be over a billion because of the pipeline," Dangote said on Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the president said the project could change Zimbabwe’s production structure with fuel cheaper to import.

The agreement paves the way for major projects across energy, cement and fertiliser production, and infrastructure development.

Dangote is already planning a major fuel storage facility in Walvis Bay, cutting Southern Africa’s dependence on fuel imports from Europe and Asia.