Mr Charles Akhigbe, Chairman of the State Implementation Committee for the Edo Inland Container Depot (EICD), says the depot on completion would provide employment for about 13,000 persons.
Akhigbe, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Benin, said the figure would comprise of about 3,000 direct and 10, 000 indirect employment.
He said that this was from the facility study carried out on the depot in 2015 at the depot site in Agbomoba village, near Benin.
Akhigbe disclosed that the depot which would be a dry port, had been fashioned like a Public, Private Partnership project, designed to improve trade and commerce, as well as bring shipping to the doorsteps of industrialists and shippers within the location.
He also said that the project, on completion, would boost real estate business, as well as the State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by more than 15 per cent.
Akhigbe, whose company, the Atlantique Marine Engineering Services, is also the promoter of the project, told NAN that it was divided into two phases.
According to him, the first phase has capacity to accommodate 15,000 TEUs, that is 15, 000 of 40 feet containers, while the second phase would accommodate 12,000 TEUs, bringing the total capacity of the facility to 27, 000 containers.
He added that in line with the terms of reference given to the committee, the project would be completed between 18 months and two years, saying that work had commenced earnestly at the project site.
The committee chairman also said that most approvals for the various phases of the project had been completed as the National Shippers’ Council had been very supportive and wants the project completed on schedule.
He disclosed that in view of this, the Shippers Council had recently opened a regional council office in the state capital, to fast track its completion.
THE NATION
