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Kenya’s President William Ruto and his counterparts from Uganda,
Ethiopia, Togo, Benin and Nigeria's former President Olusegun
Obasanjo led a ground breaking ceremony at the site, shoveling
soil to show that work on the refinery has started.
Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, whose company, Dangote
Group, will handle the refinery's construction and has stakes in
the project, said Wednesday “Africa must industrialize Africa,"
adding that the continent cannot be “exporting what it has and
importing what it needs.”
The refinery will rely on oil from neighboring countries.
However, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni said his country had
planned to build its own “small refinery” and those plans would
continue. The region needs “more than one or two refineries," he
said.
“For Ugandan crude, I didn't want to export any crude, I wanted
to refine it locally,” he said.
Dangote said East African countries have a sufficient market for
the oil that will be refined locally. The countries in the
region consume much more than the 700,000 barrels per day that
will be refined, he said.
The refinery was initially planned to be built in Tanzania’s
coastal town of Tanga, but Dangote said it was later determined
that Lamu had deeper waters, solid ground capable of supporting
the heavy equipment, and deep-sea access.
Other East African countries – Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and
Tanzania – sent heads of delegation to represent their heads of
state at the ceremony.
The refinery is already facing local obstacles. Officials are
waiting for a lawsuit filed by residents claiming ownership of
the land to be resolved. Dozens of protesters took to the
streets of Lamu on Tuesday demanding more compensation.
Environmental activists also say the project threatens the
marine ecosystem at the coast.
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