FEC approves $4.7bn Ondo, Snake Island, Burutu ports development

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved port development projects worth $4,713,841,477 in Delta, Ondo and Lagos States.

 The authorisation was for the development of Ondo Multi-Purpose Port in Ilaje, Snake Island in Lagos State and Burutu in Delta.

The approval was given during the weekly FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Minister of State for Transportation, Prince Ademola Adegoroye, told State House correspondents that the council gave the authorisation for the development of Ondo Multi-Purpose Port in Ilaje, Snake Island in Lagos State and Burutu in Delta.

According to him, the projects which are to be executed through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements at no cost to the Federal Government, will be financed by the private firms and to be operated for 45 and 50 years.

He said 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.

The accruals to the concessionaire and the Federal Government areexpected to be $50 billion and $2.6billion, respectively.

”The Burutu port will cost $1,285,005,818; 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,” he said.

Also addressing the correspondents on the outcome of the meetimg, the Minister of State, Power, Mr Jerry Agba, said that the council approved N140million as argumentation for the procurement of 33 KV circuit breakers and 120 numbers of surge arrestors for systems use for Transition Company of Nigeria.

He said: ”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 government is only responsible for transmission.

”So, most of the equipment have 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 power supply get better by the day.”

Agba further disclosed that the council approved N1.5billion as argumentation for the construction of the Dukanbo Shonga 132 KV double circuit transmission line in Kwara as the line had been down for several years.

”So, with this procurement, we should be able to revemp the station and you know it is an agro-based area, that’s the area which services the Bacita farm.

”’The shonga farms limited and the whole of that area had been in darkness for a long time.

”With this procurement, we hope that in two months, we should have full power supply to those areas and restore farming and processing activities in that area. The cost is N1.5 billion,” he stated.

Agba also assured that the epileptic power supply witnessed in recent times in different parts of the country would soon be a thing of the past.a

The minister said that power generation and distribution would improve in spite of the coming of rains.

Abga said: “You’ll agree with me that of late, we’ve had problems with gas supplies for generational companies.

“We just negotiated with the gas supply companies, NNPC limited to augment gas supplies to distributors at the going local rate.

“Gas was sold to them at export rate, whose price differs and they collection was made on domestic rates.

”So, there was a differential and we had an agreement with the NNPCL and and natural gas company to supply gas to GENCOs.”

According to Abga, this commenced from last week, and they are buying at the local price not at the export price.

He added: “So, with that, we hope in the very near future, in a week or two,we should have improved generation and supply.

”Distribution is going to be done by DISCOs which is why we are doing everything possible for transmission company to have all the equipment necessary for effective transmission.

“We hope and I assure you that power generation and distribution will improve in spite of the rains that have come in now.”

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also told the correspondents that the construction of second Niger bridge had been completed and it was ready for inauguration before May 29.

The minister said that the contractor handling the bridge would be handing over the project to the Federal Government on May 20.

Mohammed, who stood in for the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said:

“The second Niger bridge is ready for inauguration. The contractor will hand it over on 20th of this month,” he added.

The minister also reacted to the call by Gov. Bello Matawalle of Zamfara, to the effect that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), should extend its probe on corrupt officials to the presidency and the outgoing Ministers

Matawalle had in a statement told the EFCC Chairman, Malam Abdulrasheed Bawa to stop castigating governors and beam his searchlight on the Presidency and members of the Federal Executive Council.

He urged the EFCC boss to ensure the commission’s investigation must be holistic and not selective.

However, the minister said there was nothing wrong in calling on EFCC to probe the presidency as the governor was only expressing his personal opinion.

“The governor has the right to make suggestions; that is his own opinion,” he said.

Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, who also spoke alongside his colleagues at the end of the council meeting, said it approved the concessioning of the Nnamdi Azikiwe international Airport, Abuja and the Mallam Aminu Kano international airport in Kano.

He added that the Abuja Airport would be concessioned for 20 years while that of Kano would be concessioned for 30 years.

The minister further said that the council also approved the ministry’s change of name from Federal Ministry of Aviation to Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace of Nigeria.

Sirika said the council also approved the draft National Civil Aviation Policy, which he said was geared towards the strengthening of the civil aviation.