By Adedapo Adesanya
Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, has affirmed the commitment of his administration toward the actualisation of the Ibom Deep Seaport project.
The governor also expressed the readiness of his administration to do all that was necessary to ensure the immediate commencement of work on the project.
Governor Udom stated these when he received a delegation from the China Harbour Engineering Company in his office led by its Chairman, Mr Martin Chen recently.
He commended the company for its interest in working with the Akwa Ibom State Government to ensure that the dream of having the Deep Seaport becomes reality.
On his part, Mr Chen expressed the Chinese’ interest in working with the Government of Akwa Ibom State to realise the project, noting also that the firm is the largest port building firm in the world.
He added that the company has facilitated the construction of ports in different parts of the world, including the Lekki Deep Seaport which is nearing completion.
He identified the peaceful nature of Akwa Ibom State as being a factor that made it easy for them to make the decision to partner in the construction of the Ibom Deep Seaport and expressed their desire to work with the state government to deliver on the project.
The delegation from the company also included the Managing Director, Mr Jason Wang; Senior Marketing Manager, Mr Scott Jiang and Mr Buki John, a senior engineer.
Joining the Governor to receive them was the Chairman of the Technical Committee on the Development of Ibom Deep Sea Port, Mrs Mfon Usoro, the Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr Bassey Okon and other government officials.
Business Post had reported that the government has hinted that construction of the Ibom Deep Seaport will commence in 2022.
This followed the approval for the development and the subsequent presentation of the state’s 2022 budgetary outlay of N582.1 billion, christened budget of redefining standards.
“To aggressively pursue the development of other internal revenue-generating sources in the state, in maritime, coastal and inland waterways, harnessing revenue on landed properties and others.
“To commence the construction of Ibom Deep Seaport and development of the Ibom Industrial City to complement government’s efforts in the creation of enduring structures for employment generation, wealth creation and increased internally generated revenue.
“We will continue to encourage the development of our rural and riverine areas so as to stem the rural-urban migration through the provision of electricity, feeder roads and the promotion of mechanized agriculture,” he said.
Dipo Olowookere