The Onitsha River Port is expected to ease the transportation of goods to the Southeastern part of the country from other major sea ports in Nigeria like Lagos and Port Harcourt, and to generate N50 billion when completed.
This was revealed in a statement by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) through its spokesperson, Kanji Yarling.
The statement said the Federal Executive Council has approved the project under a Rehabilitate, Operate and Transfer agreement.
She said the 30 years concession followed due process in according with the regulatory guideline of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), stressing that “this concession is part of the bigger Federal Government’s plan to concession the remaining river ports and enhance inland waterways transportation in the country.”
The port she said “is equipped to deal with general cargo such as containers, bulk cargo and other packaged freight. She further explained that “the port also has facilities such as storage, workshops and parking areas to cater for operations
What You Should Know
The Port which has a land area of over 12 hectares and had officially been opened for over 2 decades but was later abandoned to rot, is one of 4 river ports for inland waterways shipments in Nigeria. Three others are Lokoja Port, Oguta Lake Port, and Baro Port.
The concession arrangement was initiated by the last administration in 2011 with the support of Word Bank but didn’t see the light of the day.