After the concessioned of Onitsha River Port in Anambra State, discussions are ongoing for the concessioning of Baro, Lokoja and Oguta ports in the country. The Managing Director, National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), George Moghalu, said after a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja that the decision would ease pressure on the government and attract revenue to it….CONTINUE READING...CONTINUE READING
He explained: “For Onitsha, we have successfully concessioned and handed it over to Universal Elison, a company that is partnering with Port of Tuna for the next 30 years. “Now, because of limited re- sources and to reduce pressure on government, we opened up discussions with other interested organizations; unsolicited proposals have come for the concessioning of Baro in Niger State, Oguta in Imo State and Lokoja, Kogi State. They are still under construction.
“So, you find out that these jetties and ports are all in line with Rivers Benue and Niger; we are very conscious of that and what- ever we are doing, we have that at the back of our mind. “We are discussing with them; the advantage here is that it will reduce pressure from government; these people own this port, complete the port, put the port to use and pay royalty to government. It has a lot of advantage and we are working conscientiously on that.’’
The managing director said that Oguta River Port was not on the budget prior to his appointment but had been brought back to the budget. According to him, the fencing of the Oguta port had been completed, while some basic facilities required for a port to operate were being put in place depending on the availability of resources. Moghalu stressed: “Same is applicable to Lokoja; so, we are taking it from two perspectives. Completing the building by government and concession so that the new concessionaire can complete the ports and put it effectively to use.’’ He said that prior to the concession, a test run was done, noting that cargo was moved between Onne and Onitsha, while the movement of cargo from Lagos to Onitsha is being concluded….CONTINUE READING
