The managing director of the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), Chief Victor Alabo, who disclosed this to journalists at the Intels complex within the free zone at Onne, Rivers State, said the Onne free zone has attracted a total of $60 billion foreign direct investments (FDI) with Intels leading.
He also disclosed that the other four oil and gas free zones under the regulation of the OGFZA have as well managed to garner a total FDI of about $15 billion.
He attributed the huge investments at Onne to the investors’ high level of confidence on the country.
“In this free zone (Onne), the biggest player is Intels and as an investor in free zones, they have confidence in the Nigerian economy and so they have done massive investment within the free zone.
“As oil and gas port developer, Intels has built several ports at the Onne free zone, including about 1,000 multi-billion naira modern residential flats for oil and gas workers operating at the free zone. The 25-year concessionaire is currently developing the phase 4B projects meant for construction of FPSOs and container terminals.
“Initially, the port here has only seven or nine metres draught, but now, Intels has attained 12 metres draught. It is a public-private partnership between Intels and the ministry of transport. Attaining 12 meters has made it possible that whatever the size of the vessel calling at this port, it can arrive at the ports here, because the draught has been developed; if an investor doesn’t have faith in the economy of this country, he can’t invest that much. Only the last phase of port investment is about $3.5 billion,” Alabo said.
He also disclosed that additional jobs could be created to the existing over 30,000 workers directly and indirectly, if investors bring on operations from the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry, considering the availability of raw materials in the zone.
He explained that government’s support for the free zone, in terms of policy consistency had encouraged investors, while the authority was working to address the issue of interference on such policy by some agencies, especially on the front of taxes.
He said, “The areas of investment we are looking for is in the downstream of the petroleum industry. We have the raw material of crude oil, we have gas. We cannot continue to just export these raw materials and so we are encouraging investors to come into the free zone because we are expecting gas to be here. The crude line is not far away from here so that they can use these crude and gas to produce fertilser, plastics, and petrochemical products. That is the concept of the free zone for oil and gas.”
Culled from Leadership
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