The impact of the 2017 take off of Abia Inland Dry Port...

If things go as they were de­signed, the first set of con­tainers are expected to land at the Abia Inland Container Dry Port located at Avor Ntigha, Isi­ala Ngwa North Local Govern­ment of Abia State. The cheer­ing news to Abians, South East, and Nigerians in general was an­nounced recently by an official of the Nigeria Shippers? Coun­cil, Christian Chimezie.
It will be recalled that Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu in his desire to open access to trade and com­merce in the state, develop av­enues that would support in­flow of businesses, inaugurated the Inland Dry Port Project Im­plementation Committee early this year.
According to Chimezie, the committee was working hard to realise the target date for the delivery of the port, adding that Abia State that the government was committed to realising the port to boost business transac­tions in the South East and de­congest Onne Port.
The import of the facility to the economy of Abia State can­not be over emphasised .In 2007, the then Minister of Transpor­tation, Chief Cornelius Ade­bayo, during the ground break­ing ceremony of the project said that the depot when completed would create 100,000 jobs.

Also, the project, a 50,000 TEU (containers) port facility, would serve Aba, Onitsha,Enugu, Eb­onyi, Imo, Delta and Benue states. One of the features of the port was that it would receive containerised cargo by rail from Port Harcourt.
Considering the strategic eco­nomic position of Aba as the commercial hub of the South East, the idea behind the estab­lishment of the dry port was to save importers the trouble of traveling to the coast for their business transactions thereby bring goods closer to the owners.
The Abia Inland Cargo De­pot, among other ICDs, was a product of the Build Operate and Transfer (BOOT) agreement the federal government signed with concessionaires in 2006. The agreement, which identifies the federal government as the guar­antor and concessionaires as operators, stipulates that pri­vate investors would be licensed to build Dry ports at designated sites, operate them for stipulat­ed time and transfer ownership to the federal government. The system enables private investors to partner with the government in providing port facilities.
Other ICDs were sited at Zawachiki village, Kano State; Eronnu in Egbeda LGA of Oyo State; Heipang, Barkin Ladi, Pla­teau; and Galanbi , Bauchi State.
Fortunately for the Abia In­land Port, Eastgate Inland Ter­minal Limited, the concession­aires of Abia ICD were the first among other ICDs to be issued Certificate of Occupancy by Ni­geria Shippers Council in 2008, and in 2009, the agreement for the commencement of the physi­cal development was signed.
Adebayo had during the ground breaking ceremony of the project in 2007 stated that gov­ernment expected the Abia ICD to be ready for business within 30 months. Unfortunately, the facil­ity is yet to come on stream. The time around, we are relying on the pledge made by Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu that the state would de­ploy maximum support for Ni­geria Shippers Council and the concessionaires, Eastgate Inland Container Limited towards the realization of the project. The governor, whose words have re­mained his bond, is disposed to deploy available infrastructures and facilities for the economic advancement of the state.
Inland Container Depot was first introduced in the coun­try in 1979 when the then El­der Dempster Lines led other members of the United King­dom West Africa Liner Confer­ence (UKWAL), to team up with the National Insurance Corpo­ration (NICON) to establish an ICD in Kano, under the manage­ment of Inland Container Nige­ria Ltd (ICNL).
Another Inland Container Depot was established in Kaduna but the two ICDs were plagued with several problems which led to their closure. After their col­lapse, the managers of the Kano/Kaduna ICDs appealed to the federal government to resusci­tate them and the matter was referred to the Shippers? Coun­cil, thus marking the beginning of the involvement of the Coun­cil in the promotion of ICDs as a component transport infrastruc­ture for hinterland shippers.
Ukegbu writes from Umua­hia, Abia State.