ETHIOPIA LAUNCHES MAJOR GAS PLANT, BEGINS CONSTRUCTION OF OIL REFINERY, FERTILIZER FACILITY. (PHOTO).

 Ethiopia launches major gas plant, begins construction of oil refinery, fertilizer facility

Ethiopia has launched yet another mega economic project and kick-started the construction of additional ones worth $10 billion collectively.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched the completed first phase of Ogaden Liquified Natural Gas Project in Calub, in the country’s Somali Region, TRT Afrika reported.

It is a multipurpose plant expected to produce 111 million litres of gas and 1,000 megawatts of electricity.

Prime Minister Ahmed also laid the foundation stone of the second phase of the gas project that is bigger with a 1.3-billion-litre annual capacity.

The Ethiopian leader also launched a fertilizer plant worth $2.5 billion to be constructed in partnership with Dangote Group, the company of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. Under an agreement signed in August, Ethiopia will hold a 40% stake, while Dangote Group will own 60%. The plant is expected to produce three million tonnes of fertilizer per year.

'Construction deadline'

Prime Minister Ahmed said the Gode Oil Refinery will source crude oil from the country’s Hilala oil field.

It is not yet clear when the two projects will be completed. However, media reports quote Billene Seyoum, a spokesperson for the prime minister, as saying the first phases are to be finished within 24 months.

With more than 135 million people, Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous country after Nigeria, which as more than 230 million.

The Ethiopian prime minister said the projects will help the country in its industrialisation drive through self-reliance in energy, fertilizer and food security, and also ‘’elevate Ethiopia’s presence on the global stage in a way that honours the true spirit of Ethiopian identity.’’

The latest development comes less than a month after Ethiopia inaugurated Africa’s largest hydropower dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, capable of generating more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity.