Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — A Nigerian firm, Mercury Maritime Concession Company Limited, says it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt, over the operations of the $2.9billion Escravos deep seaport.
Chairman of MMCC, Rear Admiral Andrew Okoja, disclosed that modalities have been concluded to deliver the first phase of the Escravos deep seaport between 2024 and 2025.
The deep seaport, according to Okoja, which would sit on 30,000 hectares of land in South West of Warri, will decongest the Lagos ports and will be on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer model for a period of 50 years with funding from overseas.
The MMCC boss explained that the Escravos seaport project would comprised of industrial layouts, a 2000MW independent power plant, a nature conservation park, an international airport and the development of prime infrastructure, new towns and cities.
“Now we have signed an MoU with Suez Canal Authority of Egypt, they are the operator and they are going to open it up. Very soon they are going to get their first visit to this port.
“The connectivity of the port is going to be concessioned, which is being processed with the Ministry of Transport. It will be concessioned between 50 and 75 years.
“The marine connectivity goes from Escravos port into the River Niger up to Onitsha and from Onitsha, the second phase will go up to Lokoja. The first phase of the project is about 350 kilometers from the port to Onitsha. From Onitsha to Lokoja is about 200 kilometers.
“When we do it, we will recover our money by tolling and the second connectivity is the rail, which will connect the port to Warri, Itakpe and up to Ajaokuta.”
He said the the third phase of the project is a direct through from Escravos seaport to join Warri-Sapele road around Koko junction, which will be concession for about 50 years, adding that the seaport has the capacity to attract $50 billion investment.
Follow us on twitter
