The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has listed lack of funds and availability of land as major factors affecting the takeoff of Inland Dry Ports across the country.
This is as the Buhari administration has shown renewed interest and vigour to ensure that all concession projects are implemented and ready to operate in the country.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), this disclosure was made by the Deputy Director, Public-Private Partnership, NSC, Mallam Mustapha Zubairu, on Thursday, June 3, 2021, in Lagos.
Zubairu said that because of the renewed interest, some of the concessionaires had got finances and divested interest for the projects to be operational.
What the Deputy Director of NSC is saying
Zubairu in his statement said, “There are a lot of factors that have affected the early commencement of the project and basically it has to do with funding. Funding was a bit challenging for the concessionaires and this is because the project is capital intensive and not something that can easily be done by an individual.
Another challenge has to do with land. Some state governments have failed to perform their own commitment based on implementation strategy. They are supposed to play key roles toward the provision of basic amenities like access road to the site, perimeter fencing, security, water and others.
Most state governments failed to discharge some of these responsibilities and the most critical of them all is the land to be delivered free from all incumbrances and this was relatively challenging for some state governments.”
While noting that the Kaduna dry port was functional, Zubairu pointed out that the Ibadan project was still under procurement and yet to be fully concessioned as what obtained at the moment was the preferred bidders.
He said, “Also, the procurement process is very wrong and protracted. It is an unsolicited proposal that needs to be matched with other interested parties and so presently, still stands as preferred bidders.”
The deputy director said that the Ibadan project was under negotiation and would very soon have a concessionaire, with approval for operation to commence, while he said that the Funtua project has gone far.
Zubairu said that the Funtua project has gone far with an appreciable level of deployment being attained particularly on infrastructure. He noted that various aspects of the project, parameter fencing and gate have attained different levels of completion.
He said that insurgency had affected the commencement of the project in the Maiduguri area while noting that the land issue had remained the most critical aspect affecting the project in Abia.
What you should know
The Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) agreement was signed on May 16, 2006, between the Federal Government and the concessionaires to establish Inland dry ports, otherwise known as Inland Container Deports (ICD’s) or Containers Freight Stations (CFS).
The locations for the Inland Container Depot include Isiala Ngwa in Aba; Erunmu in Ibadan; Heipang in Jos; Zawachiki in Kano; Zamfarawa in Funtua; Jauri in Maiduguri and ICNL in Kaduna.
The port was meant to bring services to the doorsteps of shippers across the nation, assist in decongesting the seaports as well as assist in overall costs of cargo to the hinterland and other locations.
What does this mean, no money in Nigeria meanwhile A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed since 2016…….its indeed laughable.
How’re the Mighty Fallen…… Shockingly untrue