(Ecofin Agency) - Tanzania plans to invest $3 billion to build a fertilizer-producing unit. This project is the fruit of a partnership with a consortium of German, Danish and Pakistani investors, Reuters reports.

“This factory which will be Africa’s biggest in terms of fertilizer production, will produce 3,800 tons of fertilizer each day and employ up to 5,000 people,” said the country’s presidency in a statement. It will be built in the Southern part of the country and part of the output will be directed to the local market, the surplus will be exported.

Once the project is completed, by 2020, Tanzania’s love story with fertilizer imports will come to an end. According to observers, the government plans to focus on exploring for additional oil and gas reserves. In February 2016, the nation announced the discovery of a natural gas reserve of 2.17 trillion cubic feet, bringing its overall reserves to more than 57 trillion cubic feet.

In the framework of the fertilizer plant’s project, the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC), which manages the country’s oil sector, signed a joint-venture agreement with German firm Ferrostaal Industrial Projects, industrial catalysts producer, Haldor Topsoe, and fertilizer producer, Fauji.

Aaron Akinocho