Ondo State Government on Tuesday signed a consultancy service agreement with Maritime and Transport Business Solutions (MTBS), a private entity, on the proposed deep sea port project in the state.
The consultancy services agreement is for the conduct and preparation of feasibility study and conceptual master design for the port.
When completed, the port will link the state to the global trade networks and make it one of the commercial hubs for import-export trade.
The State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, said that the project had the potential of transforming the state socio-economically in terms of its value-addition benefits of revenue, commercial activities, job creation and industrial development.
Represented at the signing ceremony by the Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi, the governor who described the state as the most peaceful in the Niger Delta region, assured that all stakeholders would be carried along in the execution of the project.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of Maritime and Transport Business Solutions (MTBS), Paul Van Eulem, who signed for the consulting team said that his company would carry out a feasibility study which would last 10 weeks from the date of the agreement and also provide the plan and design for the project.
Disclosing that MTBS is well established in building sea ports, the consultant promised that the company would invest its vast network and knowledge into the project.
Eleum said that that the proposed port would ease pressure on Lagos port and be financially viable such that investors would benefit from it substantially.
In his remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Business Development, Boye Oyewumi, commended the governor for his efforts to industrialise the state, pointing out that the project marks the beginning of the state’s industrialisation process.
He said: “Finally, we are there, work has started and we already have 45 consultants on the field working day and night and the Dutch consultants will also join them to do the port feasibility.
“This signifies that the people of Ondo State and the South West in particular must get ready because there is a revolution coming.
“When you have a deep sea port, an industrial city and a Free Trade Zone all on the same site, then everyone would know we are ready for business. There is no part of this country that has those facilities domiciled in the same place as we are planning it here”, the adviser added.
Oyewumi, who is also the Chairman of Ondo State Investment and Promotion Agency (ONDIPA), said that the project would be executed in phases and would take between 10 and 20 years to be completed.
