Benin Industrial Park Attracts $250m Investment

By Dipo Olowookere

The Benin Enterprise and Industrial Park project in Edo State has attracted about $250 million from an investor who wants to do business on the facility.

Governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, made this disclosure when a World Bank Team led by Gloria Joseph-Raji paid him a courtesy at the Government House, in Benin City, on Tuesday.

The governor said his administration has continued to make considerable progress on the Benin Enterprise and Industrial Park project, adding that the plan is to commence construction at the site before the end of the year.

“We have made considerable progress on our industrial park as we touched on an anchor tenant who has committed close to 250 million dollars for their operation. This has been confirmed as I speak. We have two others from China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and we are working closely to get a commitment from them,” he noted.

Mr Obaseki said his administration is focused on building conducive business environment to rev-up investment and create more job opportunities, noting that the state government is concentrating on key elements to improve ease-of-doing-business in the state by improving land reforms, law and order, streamlining the state revenue service and human capital development.

“We have gotten support from Universal Basic Education Fund to build a digital laboratory at the College of Education in Abudu and we will work with you to build human capacity. The law for restructuring the College of Education is before the parliament and will be considered soon.

“Procurement for laboratory equipment for the Government Science and Technical College (GSTC) has been completed and will be ready for use by the last quarter of the year. We have identified three other technical colleges in Isi, Irrua and Igarra for similar projects,” the Governor said.

Leader of the World Bank delegation, Gloria Joseph-Raji, explained that the visit was planned as a follow-up to the visit by the World Bank Team in January 2019, noting that, “Our overall objective is to support your government to boost job creation for youths in the state.

“We settled on supporting your administration to build a conducive environment for the private sector to thrive. The private sector creates the jobs but the government ensures an enabling environment for businesses to thrive,” Gloria added.