Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the sum of $4,713,841,477 for the development of new port projects in Delta, Ondo, and Lagos States.
This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Transportation, Prince Ademola Adegoroye, after the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The ports to be developed are the Ondo Multi-Purpose Port in Ilaje, Snake Island in Lagos State, and Burutu in Delta.
Public–Private Partnership
The Minister stated that the projects, which are to be executed through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements at no cost to the Federal Government, will be financed by private firms and operated for 45 and 50 years.
He noted that the Ondo port would cost the private developers the sum of $1,480,465,253 and would be concessioned for a period of 50 years.
Meanwhile, accruals to the concessionaire and the Federal Government are expected to be $50 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively, adding:
- “The Burutu port will cost $1,285,005,818 and be concessioned for 40 years, with the concessionaire and the Federal Government expected to reap $125 billion and $9 billion, respectively.
- “The Snake Island Port will gulp $974,185,203 and be concessioned for 45 years, with the concessionaire and the Federal Government receiving $18 billion and $5.23 billion, respectively, in accruals within the period.”
Other approvals
The Minister of State, Power, Mr. Jerry Agba, said that the council approved N140 million as argumentation for the procurement of 33 KV circuit breakers and 120 numbers of surge arrestors for systems used for the Transition Company of Nigeria, adding:
- ” You know, we are bent on providing improved services of electricity to Nigerians.
- ” TCN is the main body that has to do the transmission. You know generation and distribution are in private hands now, so the government is only responsible for transmission.
- ” So, most of the equipment has become obsolete over the years, which is why you have break-in transmissions, low power supplies, and outages here and there.
- ” With these refurbishments and new procurements, we should be able to improve services and see the power supply get better by the day.”
FEC also approved N1.5 billion as an argument for the construction of the Dukanbo Shonga 132 KV double circuit transmission line in Kwara, as the line had been down for several years.
Second Niger Bridge
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said construction of the second Niger bridge had been completed and it was ready for inauguration before May 29.
He revealed that the contractor handling the bridge would be handing over the project to the federal government on May 20.
- The second Niger bridge is ready for inauguration. The contractor will hand it over on the 20th of this month,” he added.
Backstory
Recall that Nairametrics reported earlier this month that the Nigerian government announced it was about to grant approval for the construction of a $1 billion multi-purpose deep seaport in Ondo State.
This was disclosed on Thursday by Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), in a meeting with the Ondo State Coordinator for Special Projects, Mr. Boye Oyewumi, to submit the full business case for the port.
The NPA chief noted that the port, just like the recently commissioned Lekki Deep Seaport, would be funded through a public-private partnership model.
Source: Nairametrics
