Dangote Projects Limited, the construction arm of Aliko Dangote’s Dangote Industries Limited, has assembled nearly 7,000 pieces of construction equipment, giving the group what it describes as the world’s largest construction equipment fleet. The buildup began with the construction of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and expanded as the group developed its fertilizer and refining operations.

From refinery to fleet

Dangote Industries Group Vice President Edwin Devakumar disclosed the figures Friday during a briefing as Kenyan President William Ruto visited the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos. The group initially acquired 2,563 pieces of equipment, including 320 cranes, for the refinery before purchasing more than 4,000 additional machines.

Devakumar said the initial purchase made Dangote the world’s second-largest construction company by equipment holdings at the time. The subsequent expansion of the refinery and fertilizer projects pushed the fleet close to 7,000 pieces of equipment, making the group the largest globally by that measure, according to Devakumar.

Building what Nigeria lacked

The equipment buildup was driven largely by the scale of the refinery project and a shortage of local construction capacity, Devakumar said. Dangote first approached leading Nigerian construction companies, but they said they lacked the capacity to execute the project. Bringing foreign contractors would also have required shipping equipment into Nigeria and removing it after completion.

The group instead built its own construction capabilities, extending well beyond heavy machinery. Dangote developed a quarry capable of producing 10 million tonnes annually, secured mining and environmental approvals, and acquired 8,200 concrete pumps and 203 transit mixers after determining that local ready-mix concrete suppliers could not meet the project’s requirements.

Dangote also built a port to handle equipment that existing infrastructure could not accommodate, including machinery weighing about 3,000 tonnes. The group constructed facilities for 50,000 workers, while peak employment reached about 63,000. More than 70 percent of the refinery site was initially swamp, requiring sand reclamation and swamp buggies to prepare the location.

Expansion moves into Kenya

The construction capability is now supporting Dangote’s next major refining project. The group is scheduled to break ground Sept. 30, 2026, on a planned refinery in Lamu, Kenya, featuring a 1,000-megawatt power plant. Engineers India Limited has secured a contract worth more than $450 million for project management consultancy and engineering, procurement and construction management services.

Dangote Group reported about $17 billion in revenue for the first half of 2026 and is targeting $36 billion for the full year. It also plans to double the Lagos refinery’s crude-processing capacity to 1.4 million barrels per day and spend about $50 billion on capital projects through 2030 as part of its Vision 2030 expansion strategy.