*Why concessionaires can’t meet up
*To sign new agreement in “Principle”
As the Federal Government threatens to revoke the concession licences of the of Inland Container Depots(ICDs) and Container Freight Stations(CFSs), also called dry ports, over the inability of the concessionaires to begin work at the sites 13 years after approval, the Oyo State Government has been allegedly making a deft move to de-possess the Ibadan ICD operator, Catamaran Logistics Limited of the facility, which is a 102.26 hectare of land situated in Ibadan.
Meanwhile, some of the ICD and CFS concessionaires have noted that they have agreed in principle to the new condition of operation handed down to them by the Federal Government through the port economic regulator, Nigerian Shippers’ Council(NSC), which gave them a new agreement and two weeks ultimatum to study it and return to the Council.
Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has identified the dry ports as viable tools for diversifying the economy and improving the transport sector as well as one area where the government could readily achieve the needed quick wins to drive the change agenda.
Following this, he has called the concessionaires for meetings on how the government can assist them ensure that the projects are established as envisioned.
While some members of staff of NSC will be deployed to the states hosting the ICDs to monitor their progress, according to the Executive Secretary of NSC, Barr. Hassan Bello, different delegations led by the Minister and the officials of the Council will join the concessionaires to visit the various ICD host states governors, to iron out some political and business differences which have been noted as some of the problems inhibiting the construction of the ICDs in some states.
In Ibadan, MMS Plus gathered that the present Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi is not disposed to allowing the Ibadan ICD to continue having realized that his political opponent and predecessor in office, Senator Rasheed Ladoja and a former managing director of NSC are the gladiators behind the promoting firm of the project, which is Catamaran Logistics Limited.
Ladoja, the gubernatorial candidate of Accord Party(AP) in the last governorship election in the state had challenged the electoral victory of Gov. Ajimobi of All Progressives Congress(APC) at the state’s election tribunal despite all entreaty by mutual friends and associates.
It was further gathered that Gov. Ajimobi’s led government may have concluded plans to re-possess the land earlier dedicated to the facility by the state government under Senator Ladoja as the then governor for other projects, especially when the ICD has not been constructed since the state government has no power to revoke the concession.
However, in his reaction, the Managing Director of Catamaran Logistics Limited, Mr. Lai Are said that there was no such move by the Oyo State Government. “The state government is even intervening on our behalf to NSC, because it is taking long. We have the Certificate of Occupancy(C of O) from the Federal Government, so it can’t easily be revoked,” he stated.
Mr. Are would not however take questions on the funding possibility and feasible date to commence the project as well as whether they firm acquired the land or donated by the state government.
On the new agreement, he said: “We have agreed in principle with the provisions of the agreement. We will be meeting NSC again to discuss the agreement”.
Ibadan ICD and that of Isiala-Ngwa in Abia State, are the only ICDs among others, with capacity for 50,000 containers(TEUs).
In his reaction to the new agreement and the hope of beating the new take- off deadline for the ICDs, Dr. Kingsley Usoh, who is a director in the EastGate Inland Terminal Limited, operators of the Isiala-Ngwa ICD, said that they hope to move to site in a month time because they had got financiers, and the present Governor of the state, Mr. Okezie Ikpeazu is enthusiastic of seeing the project construction begin.
According to him, they had acquired the facility for N90million then and paid through the state government, which has 20 per cent stake in the project, adding that the foreign financiers are currently tinkering with the hedge factor because of the ever increasing cost of foreign exchange.
A hedge is an investment to reduce the risk of adverse price movement in an asset. In the case of the ICD, the financiers are working on the best model as re-payment plan on the completion of the project.
Disclosing that Gov. Ikpeazu had set up an implementation committee for the project, with membership drawn from also from the NSC, he added that a delegation of the committee led by the Minister of Transport would visit the Governor this week. He said the new agreement was good and had become necessary because of the delay associated with the project nationwide but he blamed it on numerous factors, which include: Funds, political considerations, provision of some critical infrastructure by government, such as rail and access road networks, among others.
Addressing the ICD concessionaires last week in Lagos, the Executive Secretary of NSC, said that the Federal Government was expecting to see two or three functional ICDs by 2017 and so would not henceforth hesitate to revoke the licence of any unserious concessionaire.
The Concessionaires were given a 30-month deadline in May 2006 for the completion of the project, under a Private Public Partnership(PPP) model of Build-Own- Operate and Transfer (BOOT) but they could not deliver.
While the dry port in Isiala-Ngwa is situated on a 106.49 hectare plot; Dunca Maritime Limited was given a 138.37 hectare plot in Jos, Plateau State; Dala Inland Dry Port Limited was allocated 200 hectares of land at 2A Wachiki, Kano State; Equatorial Marine, 100 hectares in Funtua, Katsina State; Migfo Nigeria Limited won 100 hectares of land at Maiduguri, Borno State.
On approval and granting of licences, in 2006, each of the dry port concessionaires was expected to invest at least N2billion then to make the project a reality and manage it under 25 years concession period before eventual transfer to government.
ICDs are dry ports equipped for handling and temporary storage of containerized cargo as well as empties. With this, hinterland customers can receive port services more conveniently closer to their premises. Now that some of them have been designated port of origin, export and import services can be originated and closed at the locations, thereby reducing congestion at the conventional sea ports in Lagos or Port Harcourt. The investments also come with huge multiplier effects in their various locations’ local economies.
