THE Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has issued an investment licence to Australia’s Maysen and Borowski Claymont Joint Venture (MBCJV) and Phoenix Materials and Constructing Company of Zambia for the construction of an oil refinery and pipeline at a cost of US$1.9 billion.
Sub-Sahara Gemstone Exchange Industrial Park chairman Phesto Musonda said about 18,000 jobs are expected to be created during construction of phase while 5,000 workers will be engaged once the oil refinery is operational.
The Bwana Mkubwa oil refinery plant will be situated at the Sub-Sahara Gemstone Exchange Industrial Park in Ndola.
Mr Musonda assured that the project is on course.
“We want to assure you that we are on course with the development of the project. Yes, there have been some setbacks in the past in terms of investment climate and certain policies that affected implementation,” Mr Musonda said.
He was speaking in an interview in Ndola on Tuesday shortly after a Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) delegation paid a courtesy call on him.
He said since the joint venture agreement was signed, the firm had recorded some serious milestones.
“The project is a serious one, which has really advanced and we have since obtained an investment licence from ZDA. Also, although there was a delay, we are happy that Government has since issued and approved for us to conduct a bankable feasibility study,” Mr Musonda said.
He said talks with different partners to set up a special purpose vehicle to move the project forward are underway and that many studies have so far been done.
Mr Musonda said the new oil refinery is very catalytic to diversifying the national economy due to many bi-products expected from the implementation of the project.
The new refinery is expected to stimulate growth of other auxiliary industries such as development of commercial entities, warehousing, dry port, and container depot, skills training centre, houses and a green space.
The construction of Bwana Mkubwa oil refinery plant is expected to have a capacity to process about five million metric tonnes of crude oil annually.
The new refinery will be fed with crude oil through a new pipeline that will be built alongside the 1,800km Tazama pipeline from Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.
The project will also involve development of two exporting lines to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania to provide efficient regional distribution of regional petroleum products.
This is the kind of investment we need. We keep our fingers crossed as we see this project unfold. Friends and fellow countrymen, let’s leave politics out of this
@Easterner it is this kind of thinking that brings this country down! Zambia doesnt have the numbers to justify having a second pipeline! The logistics of laying a second pipeline, the number of people to be displaced and the protection from a spillage are too ghastly to think about! Let laying dogs…. Problem also is ZDA is desparate for any project! Its like putting a second brewery in Zambia! All these are pipedreams! No wonder its called a pipeline!
Comment:mr phesto musonda we fed up with yo day dreaming projects..what happened to yo proposed largest mall in zambia which you said wud located in kitwe opposite chingola cementry…??????? stop day dreaming big man
Like the long talked about NW Railway line! Constructing another pipeline alongside the govt pipeline, in the current infrastructural set up? Good luck, for those who are going to be alive 100 years from now!
Too good to be true , Mr musonda has made so many pronouncements about goo projects in the past but non has come to life. I stand to be corrected if am wrong. Even this one is the same old story because of the person behind.
Too good to be true , Mr musonda has made so many pronouncements about good projects in the past but non has come to life. I stand to be corrected if am wrong. Even this one is the same old story because of the person behind.
Charles, Director of Maysen & Borowski, has not paid his 14 Zambian staff since January 2015. He is being sued (papers to prove it) but refuses the settle the case, let alone even call back his own lawyer back. People have lost their houses, family members have died because they could not afford medicine, staff have had to leave the country to find other work (again witnesses accounts available). M&B abandoned Zambia, leaving all their unpaid bills behind, and then moved to Mauritius, a known tax shelter. A similar pattern also took place in Gabon (witness account available). Will it happen again in Mauritius??