Sekab, a Swedish biofuels company plans to construct an ethanol plant that would produce 100 million liters of ethanol annually. The project would be located in Tanzania and have a 2012 start-up date. Speaking on the sidelines of an industry event Wednesday, Anders Bergfors, Sekab Tanzania’s managing director said the facility would be constructed at a cost of between $200-300 million.
Bergfors added that his company was in talks with Tanzanian authorities to use an abandoned ranch north of Dar es Salaam.
"We are looking to develop an estate in Bagamoyo, maybe around 10 000 hectares. We might be ready in late 2010 for the (sugarcane) harvest, or it will be more likely to be ready for the harvest in 2010 or 2012," Bergfors told reporters.
"We might be producing our first ethanol in late 2010 or beginning of 2011 … The plant will be maybe 100 000 cubic meters a year (of ethanol)."
Over the next decade, Sekab will look to set up numerous plantations across Tanzania. The company has already set up a 200 hectare farm to grow cane seedlings, and work on the plantation is due to start next year.
Sekab also has plans to enter ethanol production in Mozambique. Bergfors said that the company has “already identified a number of areas. Maybe that will be developed over five to 10 years." According to Bergfors, the company is already negotiating for access to around 100,000 hectares of land.