Bakassi Deep Seaport may be delivered before Badagry as China Harbour steps in
Indications have emerged that Bakassi Deep Seaport, promoted by the Cross River State government may be delivered ahead of Badagry Deep Sea port in Lagos considering last week’s signing of construction agreement for preliminary works with China Harbour Company.
China Harbour is a state-owned company in China with strong expertise in construction and drainage.
It would be recalled that the dream for Badagry sea port had been on the table for too long due to some discrepancies in investors’ configuration and host community demands to part of every discussion.
However, in the case of Bakassi, it has been the investment drive of the state government as an entity.
Besides, the Bakassi Deep Seaport project is one of the signature projects of state Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, which is expected to serve the North Eastern part of the country as well as Chad and Niger Republic.
Giving a detailed insight during the contract signing ceremony at the executive council chamber of the Governor’s Office in Calabar, Ayade, decried the unfair treatment the state has suffered in the hands of federal authorities in the wake of the loss of Bakassi to Cameroon.
He noted that “The state had been treated unfairly in the Nigerian project through several ways of marginalisation and unjust treatments,” and regretted the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula, loss of 76 oil wells as well as the delisting of Cross River from the 13 per cent derivation.
According to him, “The situation has reduced the state to lack and want in body and soul and a weeping child of the nation.”
He disclosed that the sorry developments forced his thinking faculty out of the box to land at the Bakassi Deep seaport scheme, saying his administration has been in desperate need of creating an alternative source of income for the state despite the setback.
He agreed that “the Bakassi Deep Seaport is strategic for security and economic reasons.”
“Bakassi Deep Seaport will create a new narrative in merchandise and international trade in efficient port management system.”
Elated Ayade was of the conviction that on delivery of the Bakassi Deep Seaport, the superhighway and the power generation projects, the state will be one of the investment hubs of Africa.
Already, the administration has commissioned several factories including syringe, largest fashion designing company and Set Top Box factory by VDT Group.
