Devirupa Mitra | 08 Jan, 2010
Tata Africa will double its turnover in the next two years to $1 billion, the head of the diversified operations that range from vehicles to floriculture to information technology said in Lusaka, Zambia.

He said that partnership between public and private sectors companies could be a way forward to go to a higher level in investment in the continent. now account for a turnover of $500 million. "But, we expect this to increase to $1 billion in the next two years," Raman Dhawan, managing director, Tata Africa Holdings, said.

He pointed out that several of its projects which were on the pipeline in the last five years will now come online and become revenue generators. This includes the stake in Neotel, South Africa's second fixed line operator and setting up a five-star hotel, Taj Pamodzi in Lusaka.

Based in Johannesburg, Dhawan was in the Zambian capital to mark Tata's first foray into the power sector, with the signing of an agreement for India's Exim Bank to extend a line of credit of $50 million to Zambian government for construction of 120 megawatt Itezhi-Tezhi hydropower project.

This agreement was signed in the presence of the Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari who began his tri-nation African trip with a three day stay in Zambia.

The Itezhi-Tezhi electricity project is being implemented by a joint venture company of Tata Africa Holdings with state-owned Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation.

"We have already finalised the vendors for the project through competitive bidding for contracts amounting to $200 million," he said.

The future growth areas that Tata Africa was looking at were mining, hospitality, information technology and also electricity generation.

Tata is already in the mining sector in Mozambique and South Africa, but was now looking for more opportunities in coal and iron ore in East and West African regions. With a substantial presence of Tata Consultancy Services in South Africa, Tata was looking to expand its Information Technology by venturing to other countries.

The hospitality sector is also a priority area for Tata, where it saw potential for growth in tourism attracted by the continent's abundant wildlife. "Now, we have two properties (one in Zambia and South Africa each). We plan to add four more with an investment of about $100 million".

Pioneering the entry of Tata in Africa, Dhawan said China was now making "great inroads". He suggested that a possible way for India to increase its presence in Africa was for public and private sector companies to join hands.

"That is a very good way to go forward... I am open to such partnerships," said Dhawan, adding, "say, I make the investment, they (public sector undertakings) execute the project".

"They have their strengths and we have ours," he noted, indicating that public-private partnership could be a possible solution to meet competition head-on in Africa.