The Escravos Seaport Industrial Complex (ESIC) project in Delta State will require $27.29 billion in funding, and Hong Kong-based EDIB International Limited has indicated that it is willing to provide that money.
The development project, which is situated in the Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State’s Escravos (Gbaramatu Island/Omadino) is to be carried out through a Joint Venture Partnership (JVP) with the Nigerian company Mercury Maritime Concession Company Limited (MMCC).
According to Kwame Springer, the chairman of EDIB International Limited, the company is asking the government for protection over the $27.29 billion it has funded for the ESIC project through Blue Dot Wealth (BDW) Limited, its consulting division.
According to him, the company is asking the national and local governments to officially certify the existence of the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in the nation to offer security and assurance for the project that the company will fund.
He claims that the 50-year concession agreement to Build, Own, Operate, and Transfer (BOOT) the ESIC deep seaport project is the reason for the requested security.
He clarified that for the ESIC project to obtain funding from EDIB International Ltd., the concession deal duration must be extended to 99 years, and the Federal Government will make sure that the financier’s $27.29 billion investment is returned with a profit.
According to Springer, the anticipated pact also stipulates that after MMCC’s 99-year concession period expires, ownership of the ESIC deep seaport sub-project will return to the federal government.
Rear Admiral Andrew Omaolo Okoja (rtd), the chairman of MMCC, informed the media that EDIB International’s decision to finance the ESIC project is a direct result of the Federal Ministry of Transportation’s November 2020 provisional approval for MMCC to develop the project and the ministry’s August 2023 confirmation letter, which was reviewed.
According to him, the decision was also made in light of the Delta State Government’s May 2022 consent to lease 31,000 hectares of land in Escravos to MMCC for the duration of the ESIC project.
He claims that the ESIC project, which started in 2019, intends to develop 31,000 hectares of project land in Delta State into a variety of facilities, including an airport, a nature conservation park, a free trade zone/industrial park, a gas complex, an Independent Power Plant (IPP), and a deep seaport.
