Angola: Government invests almost €2B in fertiliser plant

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Angola: Government invests almost €2B in fertiliser plant

10:48 CAT | 27 Jun 2022

File photo: Ver Angola

The Angolan government plans to invest US$2.2 billion (around €2 billion) in an industrial fertiliser complex resulting from a consortium with Opaia and Sonagás, a subsidiary of Sonangol, to be concluded in 2026.

The Soyo fertiliser industrial complex, the first stone of which will be laid on 28 June, will be the first unit of its kind built in Angola and southern and central Africa, designed to produce granulated urea, according to a statement from the promoters.

So far, only Nigeria, Gabon and Egypt have fertiliser factories in Africa.

Speaking to Lusa, the project coordinator and director of Opaia Indústria, Adriano Lamas, said that disbursement of the loan, funded by a consortium of banks led by Afreximbank, would be made over the nearly four years of construction of the complex, which is due to be concluded in the third quarter of 2026.

The factory will have the capacity to produce 3,500 tonnes of urea a day, allowing it to supply the needs of the domestic market.

He said that part of the production would be aimed at preferential foreign markets, mainly in Africa, but may also reach other parts of the world, such as Latin America.

According to Lamas, the factory will create 3,200 jobs in the construction phase and 1,500 direct and indirect jobs in the production phase.
Urea is a chemical compound in the form of white crystals with the highest nitrogen content (46%) and is soluble in water.

In addition, nitrates do not accumulate in the crop. The note said it allows for the rapid growth of the vegetative mass, increases crop yield and protein content in cereal grains, and is an environmentally friendly fertiliser that does not acidify the soil.

The project aims to meet the objective of covering the deficit of 1,200,000 tons of fertiliser in the Southern African region alone, which includes 15 countries: South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Afreximbank, a pan-African multilateral financial institution, also has the technical advice of Saipem, which was involved in a similar initiative in Nigeria, for this project.

Source: Lusa