Dar Es Salaam - Tanzania said on Friday it planned to start building a $3bn fertiliser factory in partnership with a consortium of investors from Germany, Denmark and Pakistan this year.
"The factory will use natural gas to manufacture fertiliser and will be built in joint venture with a group of investors," the president's office said in a statement.
The east African country said in February that an additional 2.17 trillion cubic feet of possible natural gas deposits had been discovered in an onshore field, raising its total estimated recoverable natural gas reserves to more than 57 tcf.
Natural gas is one of the hydrocarbon sources of Ammonia, a key fertiliser ingredient.
"The plant, which will become Africa's biggest fertiliser producer, will have a capacity of producing 3 800 tons per day and will employ up to 5 000 people," the statement said.
The plant will be built in southern Tanzania near big offshore gas finds and is expected to be commissioned in 2020.