Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno has disclosed that the state government is consistently shopping for investors to actualise the Ibom deep seaport project, noting that no state government can build a seaport all by itself.
The governor stated this at a media interaction to mark the 37th Anniversary of the state’s creation, in Uyo, saying that why the deep seaport project has not made significant progress since inception by the Obong Victor Attah administration, is that the state alone cannot carry the weight of the project.
Eno also noted that his administration is handling two major projects and as such does not place the seaport project on its priority list.
“Ibom deep seaport is on course. No state government can develop its seaport by itself. No need beating about the bush. All the state government can do is to consistently look for investors and partners.
“We needed to get back to the team of the deep seaport to work. When we came in some of our partners and consultants were owed so much for the work they had done. So we had to make sure we clear the debt and pay them to get them back to work.
“You would have also observed that we are opening up the road linking to the Seaport itself. We continue to work in that direction. Federal government have made budgetary allocations, but we also know to budget is one thing, to release is another thing.
“We believe part of the benefits we will derive from the robust relationship we are building with the federal government is to able to support some of the projects they are doing in the state.
“We need to have that synergy and to have even the peace we are enjoying, that synergy is important. Where you don’t have that synergy in some states in this country, you know the results. So we will continue to build on that.”
He mentioned that very soon, there would be a roadshow, organised by the state government, to get investors to ensure the realisation of the project.
“The state has taken on two audacious projects that we must understand the import of that. We are doing a complete aviation ecosystem, building a brand new airport and a second taxiway which will serve as emergency runway.
‘We are building an MRO. Around the airport we are also about to start the Aviation Village. So, building that ecosystem by the state government alone, you cannot take such huge projects and then you are handling a seaport at the same time,” the governor explained.
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