The actual commencement of construction work on the Bakassi deep seaport,
received a further boost weekend with the conclusion of arrangements in
China by the Cross River State governor, Professor Ben Ayade with some
Chinese investors.
Ayade, who flew into China with some of his key commissioners and advisers
a few hours after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in
Aso Rock on Tuesday on the project, met with investors in Changsha and
Hanan in Hunan Province.
Following the outcome of the meetings, Ayade said construction work on the
seaport, which will be the deepest in the country, will soon commence.
The proposed seaport with a draft of over 16ft, enjoys the support of
President Buhari, who, during the flag off of the 260km superhighway, the
evacuation corridor for the seaport, promised to help with its
actualization. Recently the Federal Government gave approval to the Cross
River State Government to procure a transaction advisor for the project.
This was after the Federal Ministry of Transport had set up an advisory and
implementation committee for the project.
It would be recalled that Governor Ayade recently visited the President to
discuss among other things, the proposed Bakassi deep seaport project and
the 260kilometre superhighway estimated to cost about N700 billion.
The deep seaport will boost the export of produce such as rice and banana
as well as solid minerals.
The governor was also quoted to have said the deep seaport would not
compete with existing Calabar port, but would complement it because the
Bakassi port would be a 16 metres draft and will accommodate mother vessels
especially from the Far East.
Ayade had last year said the deep seaport had received presidential nod.
“Even in the face of several challenges and the fear that this project was
impossible, the president has kept giving me proper encouragement and I am
happy to acknowledge that,” he had said during the official visit of the
Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA).
Photo caption: Cross River State governor, Professor Ben Ayade flanked by
(from left) Wang Zeal Huan, Senior Economist, International Banking Dept,
Huan Regional Headquarters, Liu Yabin, International Banking Manager, Zhao
yi, Senior manager, Export and Equipment Division after a meeting with Sino
Sure in Changsha, China at the weekend