Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote and Kenya’s President William Ruto are set to break ground on a $16bn (£12bn) oil refinery in Lamu, on Kenya’s northern coast.
Upon completion, the refinery is expected to process 700,000 barrels of crude oil a day, making it East Africa’s largest industrial project by capacity.
Ahead of the launch, some local residents took to the streets to demand more compensation for land used for the refinery.
Speaking to the BBC, Dangote, who is Africa’s richest man, dismissed the protests as games played by local marketers and international players, insisting the refinery would go ahead and would be ready by 2030 as planned.
The refinery is set to become the only one in East Africa and is Kenya’s largest infrastructure project since independence, surpassing the $5.1bn (£3.9bn) Standard Gauge Railway.
In his interview with the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme, Dangote disputed the compensation claims and said the company took only the portion of land it needed from what the government made available.
“To come and say some people are demonstrating, demonstrating about what? Have you ever seen people demonstrating against themselves in terms of development?” he asked, indicating he was not fazed by the protests.
Walid Ali, the co-founder of the Save Lamu campaign group, told the BBC that they are concerned about the environmental impact the project could have on the local community.
“We are asking for the findings from the environmental impact assessment so that we can see what mitigation measures are being proposed,” Ali said.
“This is not the first project where we have seen environmental concerns being overlooked,” he added.
Ali said that they were yet to raise concerns directly with the company because “they have not even engaged with the local community.”
“They have only been talking to the government. There is no ownership of the project by the community,” he said.
