Investors plan airstrip, sink over $60b FDI in Onne
For
ease of doing business at the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone (OGFZ),
Integrated Logistics Company Limited (Intels) said it has acquired land
at Eteo in Eleme, Rivers State, for an airstrip.
According
to the company, the airstrip, with the Port Harcourt International
Airport some distance away, will bring more convenience to the
investment community at the Onne Port in particular and the OGFZ in
general, which already has two helipads.
Already,
the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) attracted to the zone so far is in
excess of $60 billion, making it by far the most successful in the
country, with Intels and its parent company, New Orleans, as the biggest
investors, according to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer
of Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA), Mr. Victor Alabo.
The
investments include jetty development, reclamation and development,
concrete access roads, 981 fully furnished residential flats and
hospitality facilities, including a conference centre, 108-room
five-star hotel within the premises, and skills acquisition centre for
women, among others.
Another
significant acquisition in the port, which is one of the gains of ports
concession, is the purpose-built 600-tonne Liehbber Crane with 104
tyres, nicknamed Big Mama. At $6 million, it is only one in Africa and
four in the world. It can handle cargoes of about 208 tonnes at 17-metre
outreach. It has two smaller models at the port.
The
other zones have an investment portfolio of about $12 to 15 billion,
according to Alabo, who noted that Intels’ “massive investments in the
area” stemmed from their confidence in the Nigerian economy.
Speaking
on the development of the Onne Port, Alabo disclosed that initially,
“the port here had only about seven or nine-metre graft. They have gone
to nine and 12 metres.
“It
is a public-private partnership between Intels and the Ministry of
Transport, and so whatever the size of the cargo, it can arrive at the
port here because the graft has been developed, and if you don’t have
faith in the economy of this country, you can’t invest that much. Only
the last phase of this development is about $3.5 billion.”
He
insisted that the local content issue has been quite effective in the
area, adding that “most companies here have local content desk, where
they comply with the Local Content Act, and there are companies that
have done it 100 per cent.”
Meanwhile,
Alabo noted that more investment in the downstream petroleum industry
was still required in the OGFZ “because we have the raw material of
crude oil and gas, and we cannot continue to just export them. They can
use these to produce fertiliser, plastics, petrochemicals and others.
That is the concept of development now.
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