Dangote Projects amasses nearly 7,000 machines, claims world’s largest construction fleet

Dangote Projects Ltd, the construction arm of Dangote Industries Limited, has become the world’s largest construction company by construction equipment holdings, with nearly 7,000 pieces of equipment.

The Group Vice President of Dangote Industries Limited, Edwin Devakumar, made the assertion during a briefing on Friday when Kenyan President William Ruto visited the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos.

The company initially acquired 2,563 pieces of construction equipment, including 320 cranes, for the refinery project before adding more than 4,000 additional pieces as the group expanded its refinery and fertiliser projects.

Dangote Projects reaches 7,000 equipment

Devakumar said the group initially became the second-largest construction company globally after acquiring 2,563 pieces of equipment, including 320 cranes, for the construction of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

• “So, we had to go and buy all our own construction equipment. You can see at that phase, we bought 2,563 pieces of construction equipment, including 320 cranes. So, we became the second-largest construction company in the world at that time in terms of construction equipment,” he said.
• “Today, we are the largest. Because of the expansion of the fertiliser and refinery projects, we have bought more than an additional 4,000 pieces of equipment.”
• “So, they are now close to 7,000 construction equipment, making us the largest construction company in the world.”

Devakumar said the large equipment base was built out of necessity because the Nigerian construction industry did not have the capacity required to execute a project of the refinery’s scale.

The group had approached some of the leading construction companies in Nigeria before commencing the refinery project, but they said they lacked the capacity to undertake the work.

The group considered bringing foreign construction companies into the project, but Devakumar said this would have required the companies to ship their equipment into Nigeria and later take it out after completing the project.

The decision to acquire its own equipment therefore allowed Dangote to build the construction capacity required for the refinery and subsequent fertiliser and refinery projects.

Dangote built refinery supply chain

The scale of the refinery project meant that acquiring construction equipment alone was not enough, as Dangote also had to develop supporting facilities and capabilities that were not available at the required scale.

Devakumar said the company had to produce its own concrete because ready-mixed concrete was not readily available in Nigeria in the quantities required for the project.

• The group invested in a quarry with a capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum and obtained a mining licence and environmental approvals.
• Dangote also acquired 8,200 concrete pumps and 203 transit mixers to support concrete production and the movement of materials around the project site.
• The company built its own port because existing port infrastructure could not handle some of the extremely heavy equipment required for the refinery.
• The largest equipment brought to the project weighed about 3,000 tonnes, according to Devakumar.

The project also required accommodation and other infrastructure for its workforce, with Dangote building facilities for 50,000 people. At its peak, about 63,000 people were working on the project, while the accommodation infrastructure helped the company isolate workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The refinery site itself was initially largely undeveloped, with more than 70% covered by swamp. Dangote used swamp buggies to clear the area and pumped sand from offshore to raise the site while taking steps to avoid disrupting fishermen operating in the area.

Dangote set to break ground in Lamu

Dangote Group is preparing for another major refining project in Africa, with the groundbreaking for its planned refinery in Lamu, Kenya, scheduled for September 30, 2026.

The planned refinery will include a 1,000 MW power plant, twice the capacity planned for the Lagos facility, with half of the electricity expected to be supplied to the Kenyan government.

Engineers India Limited was appointed under a contract worth more than $450 million to provide project management consultancy and engineering, procurement and construction management services for the refinery and petrochemical complex.

The power plant is expected to generate electricity beyond the refinery’s own requirements.

Dangote targets bigger refining capacity

Dangote Group reported about $17 billion in revenue in the first half of 2026 and said it is on course to reach $36 billion for the full year, compared with $18 billion recorded in 2025.

The group is also expanding the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos, with plans to increase its crude-processing capacity from about 700,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day.

• The expansion will include a new 750,000-barrels-per-day crude distillation unit.
• The Lagos expansion is expected to be completed by 2028, while the refinery has separately indicated a target of reaching 1.4 million barrels per day by 2029.
• Dangote Group plans to spend about $50 billion in capital expenditure between 2026 and 2030, compared with $25 billion invested during the previous five-year period.

The investment forms part of the group’s Vision 2030 strategy to expand its industrial footprint across Africa and grow into a $100 billion company.