The heavily congested Lagos ports may soon see relief as a consortium of French and Chinese companies has emerged the preferred bidder for the Ibom Deep Seaport Project (IDSP) following a rigorous evaluation process, officials of government of Akwa Ibom State say.

In a release signed by Mfon Ekong Usoro, made available to BusinessDay, the state government says the selection followed a rigorous evaluation process conducted by the Evaluation Committee convened by the IDSP Ministerial Project Development and Steering Committee (MPDSC) on competing bids received in response to the IDSP Request for Proposal (RFP).

Bolloré Africa Logistics – PowerChina International Group Limited Consortium emerges preferred bidder, while China Harbour Engineering Company Limited is reserved bidder.

“On behalf of the Akwa Ibom State Government (AKSG), I thank the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) for giving full and unstinting support to the AKSG throughout the IDSP PPP procurement process, including the recently concluded RFP bids opening and evaluation milestones which saw to the selection of the Preferred and Reserved Bidders,” Emmanuel Ekuwem, secretary to the state government, who spoke on behalf of Udom Emmanuel, governor of Akwa Ibom State, said.

Ekuwem further said, “The AKSG is unwavering in its determination and will work in tandem with the FMOT and NPA to realize the IDSP. Upon its completion, the IDSP is poised to bring smart, world class port handling capacity to the doorsteps of Akwa Ibom State and to serve the cargo handling demand of the West and Central African countries, States in the South South as well as South East regions of Nigeria. We are confident that the IDSP will be pivotal to the economic development of the State and the surrounding regions.”

IDSP is a Federal Government project driven by the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Akwa Ibom State & Nigerian Port Authority. Rotimi Amechi, minister of Transportation has approved the IDSP project to proceed to the next stage of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) procurement process, which is negotiation with the preferred bidder with the view to work out the investment and concession details.

Bolloré Africa Logistics, a leading port operator, is a part of French-based Bolloré Transport & Logistics (Bolloré), operating with 18 container terminal concessions (in Europe, Africa, India, Asia and the Americas), 27 general cargo and bulk terminals, 7 RoRo terminals, 25 multimodal platforms and dry port concessions and one barging concession. Bolloré ranks among the top-20 port operators in the world, according to the 2017 Drewry Global Container Terminal Operator ranking.

PowerChina International Group Limited is the international business headquarters and the core business centre of Power Construction Corporation of China, which is the world’s top hydropower, electric power, and infrastructure construction group.

The Ibom Deep Seaport is strategically located in the South East of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The 2,565 hectares greenfield port area, integrated within the Ibom Industrial City (IIC) – a Free Trade Zone replete with fiscal incentives, is designed to berth New Panamax Class vessels with channel depth (18.24m); turning basin and berth depth (16.72m); and quay length of about 7.5km upon completion. The next stage is negotiations with the preferred bidder. It expected to commence operations in 2021.

Source:- Businessdayonline