Akwa Ibom taps China for Ibom deep seaport actualisation

The Akwa Ibom government is looking towards China for the actualisation of its multimillion naira deep seaport project located in Mbo Local Government Area of the state.

There was much enthusiasm for the project which seeks to create hundreds of jobs as part of the Ibom Industrial City Project after it reportedly got the approval of the federal government and preferred bidders approved for the construction of the port project.

But progress stalled after it was reported that the host community had petitioned for an alleged move to relocate the project to another local government and the alleged change of name from Ibaka deep seaport to Ibom deep seaport.

The major contractors were said to have pulled out of the project over the action of the host community which Governor Udom Emmanuel had confirmed during media interaction in his office.

The community consisting the five local government areas in the coastal area of the state however denied petitioning the federal government over the change of name saying it was particular about the alleged change of location from Mbo to Ibeno local government.

Equally, the state government also denied moving the project to another local government saying its new location was based on the advice of technical experts.

Read also: How Nigeria can end importation of cooking gas with CBN N250b intervention

But Governor Udom Emmanuel seemed to have revived the hope of the project being reactivated when he received a delegation from the China Harbour Engineering Company, led by its chairman, Martin Chen in his office.

During the meeting, Emmanuel reiterated the commitment of his administration towards the actualisation of the Ibom Deep Seaport project.

He also expressed the readiness of his administration to do all that is necessary to ensure the immediate commencement of work on the project.

Governor Emmanuel thanked the company for their interest in working with the Akwa Ibom State Government to ensure that the dream of having the Deep Seaport becomes reality.

Earlier, the Chairman of the China Harbour and Engineering Company, Martin Chen, thanked Governor Emmanuel for receiving them and expressed their interest in working with the Government to realise the project.

He stated that their company is the largest port building firm in the world and they had facilitated the construction of ports in different parts of the world, including the Lekki Deep Seaport which is nearing completion.

He identified the peaceful nature of Akwa Ibom State as being a factor that made it easy for them to make the decision to come partner in the construction of the Ibom Deep Seaport and expressed their desire to work with the state Government to deliver on the project.

The delegation from the company also included the Managing Director, Jason Wang; Senior Marketing Manager Scott Jiang and Buki John, a senior engineer.

Joining the Governor to receive them were the Chairman of the Technical Committee on the Development of Ibom Deep Sea Port, Mrs Mfon Usoro, the Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr Bassey Okon and other Government officials.