Delta State’s Agro-Industrial Park undergoing construction in Ogwashi-Uku, Aniocha South Local Government Area of the state is seen to enhance the agricultural value chain in the state when completed, Eric Eboh, the chairman of the project’s implementation committee has said.
Eboh made the disclosure when he led members of the committee, some top government functionaries and select journalists on an on-the-spot assessment of the project site.
He explained that the project would create a One-Stop-Shop for all agro-processing in the state.
The project which its ground-breaking ceremony took place during the concluding part of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s first tenure, suffered a huge setback due to some factors including the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project landmass is about 220 hectares. It will have in it a rice plant, laboratories for quality control, warehouses, commercial plots, rice farm, sewage treatment and oxidation pool among others. The presence of a lake is said to be a dominant factor for the choice of the site of the project as the lake is expected to sustain the project all year round with its potentials of generating electricity.
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Eboh who is the chief Job and Wealth Creation officer of the state explained that the park centre has dedicated infrastructure to take care of agro-industrial services and that the sustainability of the project was assured.
He stressed that the project would be entirely private sector driven with a 3-Step Ownership, the state government having 40 percent equity, MIRAI Agro Resources 30 percent and Northsworthy Limited 30 percent.
“This is a project that its continuity is assured; it is confirmed to be self-sustaining, economically viable and it has been validated by foreign banks. When fully established, the agricultural value chain in Delta State will be greatly enhanced,” he said.
He added that the project is in line with the state government’s plans to develop the agricultural value chain in the state.
The Agro-industrial park project is one of the major programmes of Okowa and this project is supposed to serve as a game-changer in the agro industrialisation of Delta State.
What the governor is trying to do is create in the site a one-stop-shop for the agro-processing industry in Delta State, what is called an infrastructural safe operating space where agro-industries can collocate and then process agricultural commodities to different types of products for domestic consumption and export.
On his part, the Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, pointed out that the Agro-Industrial Park Project is in line with the agricultural reforms and economic diversification policy of the state government when Governor Ifeanyi Okowa came into office in 2015.
He stated that the establishment of the Agro-Industrial Park is an indication of the state government’s determination to take advantage of the agricultural potentials of Deltans to reduce the negative effects of the sharp fall of oil prices in the global economy and the dwindling revenue accruing to the state from the federal government.
“Government after government had continued to preach diversifications without practically doing much in that direction,” he remarked.
He advised Deltans to go into commercial farming with the view of processing their farm produce at the park when fully operational, thereby developing the agricultural value chain, prevent food wastages and bring prosperity to the doorstep of all Deltans.
The Project Consultant to the state government on the Agro-Industrial Park, Kester Ifeadi, an architect, said the project began three years ago and had gone through a thorough feasibility study before the site was confirmed suitable for the project.
He reaffirmed that the project would be completed in due time just as he expressed confidence that the contracting construction firm is competent and experienced to execute the project according to specification.
