Project OverviewThe Ibaka Gulf Coast City will be developed initially on 13,000 Ha of land in Ibaka, Mbo LGA of AKS. It will have a Deepwater Seaport that will host the harbor and warehouses in a Free Trade Zone. Office complexes, Shopping Malls and Marina Stands for tourists as well as Golf Courses will be developed around natural lake environments. Low-density and High-density Housing Estates will provide housing for 40,000 families. Hospitals, Schools and an Olympic-sized Stadium will be provided for. Heavy and Light Industrial Parks in an Oil & Gas Free Zone, a Light Airport and Heliport, Motor Town, Monorail system will be developed. The services of the monorail will be extended to the Ibom Airport, the Ibom Resort Hotel, Tinapa and North-western Akwa Ibom State to terminate in a Container Bay, to service the contiguous States of Abia, Imo and Rivers. Fully mechanized Farms will be developed to provide food for the City and the State. Telecommunications will be state of the art. The City will also be fully digitalized as one of the world’s foremost “smart cities”.
Benefits- Job creation in the first 9 months of construction is 8,000 employees on average monthly wage of $800 per worker. On completion, 147,000 Nigerians will be employed to perform various types of jobs including farming, airline, manufacture, commerce, banking, hospitality, fabrication engineering, tank farms, bunkering, etc.
- The depth of the port is naturally 13.5 meters. We are stretching the harbour into the sea to float 1,500 meters seawards where the depth of 17 meters will be attained. This means that ships of 100,000 tons will have a berthing facility. This is a great benefit to the countries of the Gulf of Guinea.
- Government tax income shall be on the increase. The pay as you earn remittance to government when the city is completed is estimated at $10m per month.
- The satellite towns of Mbo, Orueofong Oruko, Oron, Oyubia, Ibeno and Esit Eket will receive urban lift through an integrated planning so as to avoid the creation of slumps with its attendant criminal hideouts and unhygienic conditions.
- Most foreign oil and gas operators will find Ibaka a place to operate from because of its security, management and international image.
- Following the movement of commodities to, and the light/ heavy industries that are planned for the zone, it means that the Nigerian market will have sufficient commodities in supply. That will translate to the stemming of the capital flight by at least 50 per cent. Nigeria's capital flight stands at US$35bn per year.
- Ibaka port project is designed for community integration. It's a masses-oriented venture. This means that the developer must provide for the traditional as well as the migrating dwellers through the provision of housing and commodities, training/retraining and health-care. Being humanitarian in scope, it shall not only create the corridor for upliftment funding, but will attract the understanding and co-operation of the youth of the Niger Delta Region, who will be seeing the project as a basic self-help imperative.
Status Update From the private sector, the Ibaka Development Consortium has been working non-stop at the planning of this city for several years, since we were first given the mandate by the Akwa Ibom State Government.
As seen in recent news, an implementation committee has been set up by the Akwa Ibom State Government to accelerate the role Government should play in the development of the proposed Ibaka Industrial City in Mbo Local Government Area. According to the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information and Social Re-Orientation, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, this decision was taken at the state Executive Council (Exco) meeting held recently in the Exco Chambers of the Governor's Office in Uyo. The Akwa Ibom State Government is headed by Godswill Akpabio.
Sadly, the Implementation Committee seems to be in conflict with the law on seaport ownership and management. We're watching the development as this matter is now getting attention in the high court. This is a very critical time. It is our sincere desire to see Akpabio not turn out to be just another greedy African politician out on his own agenda, but our hopes are dimmed by the complete disrespect for the written contract and the continued selling of this concept as his own to unsuspecting international investors and developers. Apart from this deliberate act of misrepresentation (a legal matter, just like the law of contracts he should be aware of with law being among his claims to fame) and the immediate financial implications, one wonders how many have died in the absence of the jobs he is not creating by preventing those who can to commence. For more updates, also monitor the Progress page.
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