Morocco and Nigeria renewed their commitment on Sunday to building a gas pipeline that will take an onshore and offshore route and a fertilisers plant, the royal palace in Rabat said.

The renewed commitment came during a phone call between Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, the palace said. The two countries agreed to the pipeline in December 2016 and launched feasibility studies.

The pipeline will be 5,660 km (3,517 miles) long, the two countries said in June 2018, adding that construction will be in phases covering 25 years.

The two leaders also agreed to speed up efforts to launch a fertilizers factory in Nigeria by Morocco’s OCP Group, the world’s biggest phosphates exporter.

The plant will produce 750,000 tonnes of ammonia and 1 million tonnes of fertilizers and is expected to be operational by 2024, OCP officials told Reuters in July.

Like many other Moroccan firms, including banks, insurers and real estate companies, OCP has been expanding its investments in Sub-Saharan Africa in recent years, boosting the kingdom’s economic clout.

Reuters