Kenya based firm, Dalbit Petroleum, an oil distributor associated with business mogul Humphrey Kariuki (in featured photo), has landed two lucrative deals worth UShs30 billion to supply jet fuel to United Nations’ bases in northern Uganda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Daily Nation reports.
The firm’s subsidiary in Juba on Monday said it had won two tenders to fuel the World Food Programme’s (WFP’s) planes at Gulu Airport and Goma International Airport in DRC.
WFP, the food aid branch of the United Nations (UN), provides emergency assistance to people displaced by fighting in the DRC. Dalbit South Sudan’s jet oil supply deal with the UN agency for the Gulu base is estimated at $6.8 million (about Sh685.85 million), while that for Goma is valued at $1.1 million (about Sh110.95 million), the firm said in a statement.
Dalbit is part of Mr Kariuki’s business empire which includes The Hub shopping mall in Nairobi’s upmarket Karen estate, alcohol maker Africa Spirits Limited (ASL) and UK-registered power developer Great Lakes Africa Energy (GLAE).
“We are excited that Dalbit has secured the contract to supply WFP in Gulu and Goma and this works well with our commitment to fuelling regional growth across the social and economic development fronts,” Dalbit International South Sudan business manager John Paul Ogondi said in the statement.
“In such remote areas, Dalbit is deploying tailor-made solutions including customised product delivery options to enable WFP to meet its humanitarian mandate efficiently and cost-effectively.”
The firm said it has built a depot with capacity of 720,000 litres of jet oil at Gulu, a town located some 340 kilometres from Kampala.
Dalbit added it was in final phases of completing fabrication of two holding tanks for petroleum products at the Goma airport, partly used for coordination of donor support in war-prone DRC.
The jet fuel deal with WFP is only the latest in Mr Kariuki’s extensive portfolio that also includes a UShs1.5 trillion deal between GLAE and the Mozambique government to generate electricity using natural gas.
