It has been confirmed that the Federal Government has commenced investigations into the controversial award of contract for the dredging of the Calabar port channel in Cross River State.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that in November 2014, the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan awarded the contract for the dredging of the Calabar Port Channel to enable large vessels call at the port at a whooping N20 billion .
But briefing the media on the level of progress recorded so for on the Calabar channel dredging , General Manager, Public Affairs of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Captain Iheanacho Ebubeogu said that the Buhari administration has demanded for clarification about the state of Calabar channel, stressing that the government is eager to get detailed information and facts about the controversial contract.
The image maker also disclosed that the Calabar port channel project is a Joint Venture between the NPA and Niger Global Consortium
He recalled in Lagos on Friday that, “sometime last year there was a ground breaking ceremony of the Joint Ventures”, but disclosed that, “at the change of government, there are few enquiries and clarifications, I will say presently that government wants to know about the operations of Calabar channel and that is just what I can say now".
Speaking on the area of port development, Ebubeogu reiterated that the NPA is assiduously working to actualise the completion of the Lekki Deep Seaport and the Ibom deep seaport port, adding that the two ports will be driven by modern technology.
Ebubeogu, said that the authority’s commitment to the two ports stemmed from present demands and developments of the nation’s economy.
According to him, the channels of those ports built in the 1970s can no longer accommodate bigger ships coming in and going out of the country.
The General Manager also added that "over the last decade ships are getting bigger because ship owners want to respond to economy of scale , bigger ships are built wider channel to accommodate the vessels and our ports may not be able to handle all these kind of ships because demands have changed and change in transport demand "
"For these new ports we are building, we will bring to bear all these areas that we require to speak about modern technology.
According to him, NPA will be operating on a slim budget in order to encourage prudence spending, pointing out that the introduction of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is a laudable policy put in place by the Federal Government.
He acknowledge that the TSA has some level of teething problems, because it’s a new project.
"Government policy this year is to run a lain budget with all sense of prudency and NPA is not going to be of any difference and we are going to try our best to attend to all our responsibilities"
He also said the e-payment put in place by the agency has been able to assist in revenue leakages adding that the recently introduced, Revenue Import Management System (RIMS)and the Ship Entry Note also known as e-SEN, have increased revenue generation for the government.
He said that NPA had completed the rehabilitation of the rail line in Port Harcourt port, so as to decongest the port and reduce traffic on the highways.
“For Tin-Can port, NPA has contacted a consultant to see whether this would be visible and viable,’’ he said.
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