Get Guardian on GoogleA tribunal has dismissed a petition filed by a consumer rights organisation against the planned crude oil refinery by the president of the Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, in Kenya.
In a report on Thursday, Reuters said the petition filed by the Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) was one of numerous legal cases against the 700,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery development at Lamu port on the East African nation’s Indian Ocean coast.
“The tribunal ruled that the petitioner failed to establish that the refinery was a public-private partnership (PPP) project and that there was no legal basis for compelling the disclosure of its documents, according to a ruling dated October 30,” the report read.
“In its petition, COFEK had asked Kenya’s public-private partnerships petition committee tribunal to set aside and review any approvals granted to the refinery that did not comply with relevant requirements.
“The consumer rights organisation also sought an order compelling the disclosure of details of the government’s plan to acquire a stake in the refinery, including the investment vehicle, share class, payment terms, and evidence of public participation.”
In September, a Kenyan court ordered parties to maintain the status quo over land earmarked for Dangote Group’s proposed 700,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Lamu, just a day before the planned groundbreaking ceremony.
The Malindi Environment and Land Court issued the order after 133 residents of Chandavai challenged the development, claiming that the land is ancestral property occupied and used by their families for generations.
The court directed that the existing situation on the disputed parcel be maintained pending further proceedings. On October 14, the court lifted the order, granting the refinery clearance to commence construction work in Lamu.
Dangote had disclosed plans to expand the group’s petroleum distribution network across Africa, following the acquisition of a 25 per cent stake in Kenya’s petroleum products pipeline network, as he called on African governments to protect domestic industries against unfair foreign competition.
Dangote said the group was pursuing investments in pipelines, storage facilities and supply corridors across East, Central and Southern Africa to address petroleum supply constraints and improve the movement of refined products between markets.
Speaking during a conversation with Financial Times journalist David Pilling, the industrialist disclosed that the group was developing a distribution corridor linking Djibouti to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, while projects in Cameroon and Namibia were also at various stages of development.
He said the group’s investment in Kenya’s pipeline network was part of a broader plan to establish an integrated petroleum distribution system across the continent.
“We are very aggressive with that,” Dangote said in response to a question about the group’s plans to develop depots, pipelines and other petroleum distribution infrastructure.
“Just let me tell you, yesterday, with the support from the President of Kenya, we bought 25 per cent of the pipeline network for the distribution of petroleum products,” he said.
