Nigeria's Ibaka Port to start receiving ocean vessels from 2015
The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Omar Suleiman, has assured Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio that the proposed Ibaka deep sea port would start receiving ocean going vessels in three years, The Nation reports.
Speaking in Abuja at an event to mark the official hand over of the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the over 5580 sq meters of land area for the new port, Suleiman said all infrastructure needed to fast -tract the early completion of the port would be provided.
The NPA’s Managing Director hailed the governor’s gesture. He said the move to establish the deep sea port is a major step in the nation’s quest of becoming the hub of maritime operation in the West and Central African sub-region.
He noted that what is needed to realise the project is infrastructure, assuring that NPA would partner the state to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is provided.
Akpabio pledged to within one month award contract for the dualisation of the port main access road to link the east –west road with a view to making it more intermodal.
He said the state was spured to fast-track work on the surveying and parceling out of the land where the port would be cited after the last visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to the state where he pledged support for citing of the project in an area that has comparative advantage rather than based on ethnic sentiments.
He allayed fears of security of investment in the port in view of the menace of the maritime pirates on the nation’s territorial waters, saying that the Federal Government has granted the state it’s request to establish full military presence in that location.
“Now we have ‘NN Jubilee’ in the area, so with the presence of the Army and Navy complementing the Marine Police, there will be adequate security of investments as the area will be a no go area for maritime robbers and other criminals.”
The Ibaka port is said to be between 17 and 18 meters draught without dredging and its quay area will span over two miles (length). It is hoped that on completion, mega vessels of over 10,000 TEUs will be calling at the port and that will make it the largest in the region.
Speaking in Abuja at an event to mark the official hand over of the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of the over 5580 sq meters of land area for the new port, Suleiman said all infrastructure needed to fast -tract the early completion of the port would be provided.
The NPA’s Managing Director hailed the governor’s gesture. He said the move to establish the deep sea port is a major step in the nation’s quest of becoming the hub of maritime operation in the West and Central African sub-region.
He noted that what is needed to realise the project is infrastructure, assuring that NPA would partner the state to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is provided.
Akpabio pledged to within one month award contract for the dualisation of the port main access road to link the east –west road with a view to making it more intermodal.
He said the state was spured to fast-track work on the surveying and parceling out of the land where the port would be cited after the last visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to the state where he pledged support for citing of the project in an area that has comparative advantage rather than based on ethnic sentiments.
He allayed fears of security of investment in the port in view of the menace of the maritime pirates on the nation’s territorial waters, saying that the Federal Government has granted the state it’s request to establish full military presence in that location.
“Now we have ‘NN Jubilee’ in the area, so with the presence of the Army and Navy complementing the Marine Police, there will be adequate security of investments as the area will be a no go area for maritime robbers and other criminals.”
The Ibaka port is said to be between 17 and 18 meters draught without dredging and its quay area will span over two miles (length). It is hoped that on completion, mega vessels of over 10,000 TEUs will be calling at the port and that will make it the largest in the region.