The bid to encourage private investors to participate in the construction of the $2.02 billion Ibom Deepsea Port project by the Akwa Ibom State Government has not yielded the desired result.
The greenfield project, which is expected to be constructed on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, is expected to serve as a transshipment port for the West and Central Africa region and handle container, break bulk, dry bulk and liquid cargoes.
But currently, the state government is still shopping for investors to actualise the deep seaport project as moves to partner the China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) in 2022 has not materialised.
Also, as part of its search for investors, the state government in 2021, dispatched a delegation of members of the Ibom Deep Seaport committee to Seoul, South Korea to seek expertise for inputs on the development of the seaport, however, three years after, no tangible progress has been made to commence the construction of the port.
The state government had said that private investors would take 60 per cent and the public sector 40 per cent in the port. When completed the port would have the capacity to accommodate up to 13 new Panamax-class container vessels and two large feeder vessels.
Also, the port handling capacity is expected to grow from 1.2 million containers (TwentyFoot Equivalent Units) to four million containers in 2040. It was learnt that phase one of the seaport project would involve development over approximately 505 hactres of land, which also includes dug-out basin, while new 20 kilometre-long and 450 metre-wide channel approach would be built to allow two-way traffic for vessels.
Despite several efforts, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, explained that the deep seaport project had not made significant progress since inception by the Obong Victor Attah’s administration, explaining that the state alone could not carry the weight of the project. He added that his administration was handling two major projects and as such had not place the seaport project on its priority list.
According to him, “Ibom deep seaport is on course. No state government can develop its seaport by itself. No need beating about the bush. All the state government can do is to consistently look for investors and partners.We needed to get back to the team of the deep seaport to work.
“When we came in some of our partners and consultants were owed so much for the work they had done. So we had to make sure we clear the debt and pay them to get them back to work. We are opening up the road linking to the Seaport itself.”
Recall that in the state government, under Governor Udom Emmanuel, had explained during the presentation of its 2022 budgetary outlay of N582.115 billion that it would commence the construction of Ibom Deep Seaport and the development of the Ibom Industrial City to complement its efforts in the creation of enduring structures for 300, 000 jobs, wealth creation and increased internally generated revenue (IGR).
To actualise the project, Emmanuel stressed the need to ensure immediate commencement of the project when he hosted a delegation from the CHEC led by its Chairman, Mr. Martin Chen, who declared interest in working with the state government to actualise the dream of having the deep Seaport becomes reality.
Chen explained that CHEC was the largest port building firm in the world which had facilitated the construction of ports in different parts of the world, including the Lekki Deep Seaport nearing completion by September, 2022.
He identified the peaceful nature of Akwa Ibom State as being a factor that fascinated the company to make the decision to come and partner in the construction of the Ibom Deep Seaport. The chairman expressed the company’s desire to work with the state government to deliver on the project.