... Explains steps so far carried out by government to realise the concept
- Says vision realisable in 2019
The Honourable Commissioner for Special Duties, Engr Etido Inyang has explained the cause of delay in the proposed Ibom deep seaport.
The Commissioner who is also a former Special Adviser to Former Governor Akpabio on Technical matters also assured that project would be delivered for use before 2019.
Speaking while interacting with some newsmen in his Ewet Housing resident, Engr Inyang said that where the plaque is situated is the actual site where the ground breaking ceremony for Ibom Industrial city was carried out , and not for the deep seaport as insinuated in some quarters .
According to him, “When Akpabio came to power, there were a lot of concepts of developing a seaport. Individuals and even government did not have a position. And the land mass acquired was about 5000 plus hectares. It was in the era of Akpabio that we acquired up to 14,400 hectares of lands . This was so because when we did the initial interrogation with the Nigerian Port Authority-NPA and other stakeholders that are developing seaports. “
“as we went to work, we got a consultant, Wole Parsons . They did a lot of simulations -table study for the Ibom Industrial City .Ibom industrial city was to cover 14,400 hectares and during this period, there were a lot o brainstorming, road shows etc. And we discovered that there was no need to deceive ourselves that we want to created an industrial city without a deep seaport. So the concept of a deep seaport now came. This was on 2008.
“We reached a conclusion that for us to succeed for industrial city, we need to first of all establish a deep seaport. And within this period, we decided to get a license for a free trade zone, its a building block for an industrial city, and for a deep seaport “He said.
The Commissioner explained that he had gone to the Nigeria Export Promoting Authority, NEPSA and got he requirements that were supposed to meet.
He stated that the requirements include
(1) We have to meet a perimeter survey in the entire 14,400 hectares which we had applied for license, I.e the free trade zone license.
2) we need to do an Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, which were also conducted within the period. These were the achievements of Akpabio’s period.
We did that and carried out a study of relocation because you have to relocate the people from that 14,400 hectares. We submitted our proposals and went through interviews. We went with WoleParsons , these are consultants , we were sure to developed an industrial city but we want to start with a deep seaport.
The applications was pulled up and we were given a provisional approval. Monies were asked to be paid for the license , which we pay. We accomplished that, and there is no way we would have claimed that we have built a deep seaport. There is no way we would have claimed that we have started constructing a deep seaport.”
After this, they produced a report and gave to the Governor a letter which were from this study and from all stakeholders that we’ve gone through, that we need to develope the seaport. At that point, we had a break. After the break. We went to Europe and that was how FELA concepts, an indigenous transaction adviser, and what we call Maritime Business Solutions MTBS came to play.
They were the major transaction advisers for the development of the seaport. These two came together and then the minister of transport developed a concept which was working for other areas. They developed a concept, what is called Ministerial Project Development Steering Committee, MPDTS.
This became a conglomerate of the ministry of transport, NPA, AkwaIbom state government, and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Committee, ICRC. ICRC is an agency of the federal government regulating infrastructure in the country . This was to fastrack the development of the deep seaport. At this point, we went to work with the transaction advisers to develop the deep seaport.
At the end of this study, Wole Parsons then said let’s go and have a groundbreaking ceremony to showcase the end of this transaction and the beginning of the development of the concept.
Immediately after that, we now discovered that it is the deep seaport that we should go for. So that aspect was then abandoned, that we should go for the deep seaport and then we now engaged FELA concepts and MPDTS. That was the stage at the conclusion of the Akpabio tenure.
On the delay experience, “
When Governor Udom Emmanuel first came as SSG, he was part of the MPDTS, he knew everything that was on ground. And that was why the first committee he inaugurated as soon as he became government was the Ibom deep seaport technical committee for us to fasttrack the development.
They were to come up with transaction advisers that will take us to the next business case. And of course within this period, what the committee has achieved is to get Price Water House as consultant and then Price Water House went into a bidding concepts with Array of requirements.
GMaps, a world acclaimed engineering firm for the development of seaports, came tops in the bidding and Dar Andasar came as transaction advisers for the development of the industrial city.
Wole Parsons did a good job and submitted their report. But we needed to freshen that up because the location has changed slightly and the concept of which Wole Parsons did has equally changed slightly from what we feel as of this time. We need to develop an industrial city that will be viable. Dar Andasar today has been commissioned by His Excellency, Governor Udom Emmanuel through the Ibom deep seaport technical committee to move the project forward, liaise with GMaps to develop a final business case that will have the best operators, and that will attract investors.”
He said the speed at which Akwa Ibom state has attained so far shows that the state is still the fastest developing seaport in Nigeria, “even if we have not started construction. Lekki started several years, they started like 2003/2004 and today they don’t still have a deep seaport. Badagry started a long time ago , slowed down and now they are pulling up again. But we are still tops because by the end of this year these two consultants would have finished the final business case. GMaps will finish the final business case on the deep seaport and then Dar Andasar will finish the consultancy services for the development of the industrial city.
ON MONEY SPENT SO FAR, the Commissioner said, “Deep seaport in Nigeria is Propelled by the Federal Government and all what we are doing is studies, like the Wole Parson’s own. The studies is for the entire industrial estate . I don’t have the total cost of that but it was agreed between us and the Federal Government for us to be able to fast track , they said spend this money, it will be accrued to your own equity when the business commences. The financial model is 60% equity for the private investor, 20% for the Federal Government and 20% for the state government.
All what we have spent is on consultancy, so when people say Akpabio has spent so many billions into the thing, its completely out of the points . its just consultancy and why the FG said we should do it, the Federal Government portion of work they said do it to fast track it and then put it in your equity.
So no money has been lost because we are there. These international companies which you cannot really fool them to say you are adding money to whatever the cost should be
On who is constitutionally right to build the seaport and the duration of the project, the Commissioner further intimidated that there is a lot of collaboration between the FG and the state towards the establishment of the port. The head counsel is Federal Government , the state can only facilitate. State can showcase and then make a case that they want to build a seaport and you move Federal Government along.
The Federal Government entity is represented by the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA. There is a lot of politics in this business, at some point we got slowed down
2012 was actually when we commissioned FELAc Concepts and MPTDS to develop the initial business case for the development of the deep seaport and on 2012/2013 we started really screaming for the approval. It was finished in 2014 and you can see it was only approved in 2015 April.
On the concept of Industrial city, he explained thus;
The concept that we have is the best concept Nigeria can ever have because what drives industries is gas and this region has enormous gas. If you establish industries here, you have a seaport, the synergy of bringing in raw materials and then taking it out your finished products is seamless. It was in this concept that we developed the seaport.
We are using Dar Andasar because they are one of the best consultants in the world today. They are the people developing the Dubai port. And what are they charging, $1. Million dallars .
According to him, “the deep seaport will definitely be completed in this administration. The industrial city will commence because you know when we take out 5000 hectares for the Ibom deep seaport, we have 9000 left, so I’m not assuring they we will finish utilising the whole 9000 hectares of land within the life span of this administration, but there will be an industrial city that will produce foods for export through the deep seaport and receive raw materials .once we finish the final business case which is end of this year 2016. His Excellency gave us, as a committee, end of 2018 but I see it commencing the deep seaport in 2019.
He appealed to the people of Akwa Ibom to join hands and support His Excellency Governor Udom Emmanuel to realise this well thought out project.
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