Soyo - Unlike the initial project, which only provided for the production of Ammonium and Urea, the future Fertilizer Plant in Soyo, Angola’s northern province of Zaire, will move to an integrated unit for the processing of NPK fertilizer.
The fact was announced on Tuesday, in the city of Soyo, by the Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino de Azevedo, stressing that Phosphate is the third component to be added to the project for the production of the intended NPK compound.
To this end, the minister recalled that his sector awarded, a few days ago, in Luanda, a mining title, to an investor who proposes to explore phosphate in the area of Kinzau, Tomboco commune, to also meet the needs of the future Soyo fertilizer industrial park.
'We started with the production of Ammonium and the project evolved into NPK compound fertilizers,' Diamantino de Azevedo said at a ceremony to present to Afreximbank (financing entity) the aspects involving the preparations for the start of construction of the plant.
NPK, i.e. Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) is a compound widely used for soil fertilization and plant cultivation that, in addition to taking care of nutrition, the trio also prevents diseases and pests and promotes healthy growth of plants.
The first stone for the construction of the Soyo fertilizer factory, a project carried out by the AMUFERT consortium, was laid in 2022, in the Kintami area, on the outskirts of the city of Soyo, covering a total area of 152 hectares, of which 45 hectares are reserved for the industrial plant.
The project, which will have an annual production capacity of 3.8 million tons of fertilizers, is valued at USD 2.3 billion and is expected to create, in the construction phase, 3500 direct and indirect jobs out of the 4700 planned.
On this visit to the construction site, the Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas was accompanied by the chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Export Import Bank (Afriximbank), Benedict Oramah.
In turn, the chairman of the Board of Directors of Afriximbank, Benedict Oramah, said that the project of the future Soyo fertilizer plant demonstrates Africa's ability to take advantage of the natural reserves it has to improve its food security.
Speaking at the ceremony to present the project to his African financing entity, the manager said there are few fertilizer factories in the world, for whom conflicts and latent wars in various regions of the planet have caused a galloping increase in prices.
He informed that, from 2021 to 2022, there was an increase in fertilizer prices on the world market of around 60%, namely Urea and Phosphate, predicting that this trend will continue in the coming years.
“If this inflationary trend in fertilizers continues, African farmers will be the most penalized for not having the financial capacity to purchase these fertilizers”, he highlighted.
According to him, this situation could contribute to a decrease in productivity, further aggravating the continent's already fragile food security situation.
He expressed his pride in participating in the construction of this fertilizer industrial complex, which he believes will contribute to improving easier access to fertilizers across the country and the continent.
The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), headquartered in Cairo (Egypt), is a pan-African multilateral financial institution, created to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade.
The ceremony was attended by the governor of Zaire, Adriano Mendes de Carvalho, the PCA of Sonangol, Sebastião Martins, Secretary of State for Oil and Gas, José Alexandre Barroso, the chairpersoun of the OPAIA group and head of the AMUFERT consortium, Agostinho Kapaia , among other guests. PMV/JL/DOJ
