Africa’s richest person, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has applied to begin work on a seaport near his fertilizer and oil refinery plants to make it easier to export goods including liquefied natural gas and support the rapid growth of his industrial empire.

Aliko Dangote’s plan “to build the biggest, deepest port in Nigeria,” took wings after he sent in the paperwork for permission in late June, he said in an interview in Lagos.

According to Bloomberg, the proposed Atlantic seaport in Olokola, Ogun state, lies about 100 kilometers (62 miles) by road from the billionaire’s fertilizer plant and petrochemicals refinery in Lagos.

The agency said Dangote currently exports urea and fertilizer through an on-site jetty he built that also receives heavy equipment for the refinery.

It maintained that the port will link the conglomerate’s logistics and export operations and rival facilities in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, including the Chinese-funded Lekki Deep Sea Port opened in 2023.

“It’s not that we want to do everything by ourselves, but I think doing this will encourage other entrepreneurs to come into it,” he said.

The port marks the billionaire’s return to the same site where he had previously abandoned plans to build his giant refinery and fertilizer complex after wrangling with local authorities. The tensions have since been mended under a new administration.

Dangote also plans to export liquefied gas from Lagos, a project that will involve constructing pipelines from Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, vice-president of the group Devakumar Edwin said in another interview.

“We want to do a major project to bring more gas than what NLNG is doing today,” he said, referring to Nigeria LNG Ltd., a joint-venture between the government, Shell Plc, Eni SpA and TotalEnergies SE, which is currently the continent’s largest exporter of LNG.

He said: “We know where there is a lot of gas, so run a pipeline all through and then bring it to the shore.”