Akwa Ibom requires $2bn to fund deep seaport project, says Eno

The proposed Ibom deep seaport is expected to gulp $2bn for the first terminal to be completed and put to use, Governor Umo Eno has said, explaining that the Akwa Ibom State government cannot fund the project alone.

Eno who spoke in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital said the state government has succeeded in bringing the investor who had pulled out before back to the project adding that the relaunch of the project would take place within two weeks.

“We have relaunched our work on the Ibom deep seaport, we just came back from Paris, where we met with investors that had pulled out before and they are now showing interest.

“We will make a full presentation to the host community, my appeal tonight is to not destroy what God has given to us.

The governor who expressed concern over the agitation by the host community on the location warned that he would not mind dropping the project if the community continued to undermine efforts to get the project off the ground.

“The airport that we celebrate today sits on three local government areas and yet it is called Uyo airport. The idea of talking about where this seaport will be located is not what we should be talking about now.

“We must remember that this same argument made investors pull out before. We have opened up a road to the location of the deep seaport where we have the deepest draught.

“It is still within the Oro Nation. We have paid and received the feasibility study, we are doing all we can. The federal government has just approved to come and work with us to develop the deep seaport.

“Even if this seaport is to be cited in any place, the truth is when we have a deep seaport in Akwa Ibom, it will cater for people beyond Akwa Ibom. It is a transhipment port. We must therefore understand that the politics of location should not take the seaport away from us this time.

“But I like to warn, if the investors pull out, to start the seaport, the first terminal alone is $2bn and as we try to get investors, there is no state government that will do deep seaport. If through our actions or inactions, investors pull out, I will drop it,” he stated.

The port project is seen as a game changer in the quest for the state government for the development of the state’s vast maritime resources and coastline to boost the economic fortunes of the people.