-Another huge economic boost for Nigeria
From the staple of the world renowned Indorama group comes another heartwarming breakthrough that is expected to boost Nigeria’s economy.
The company executed what has emerged today as Nigeria’s most successful privatization project by acquiring the then moribund Eleme Petrochemicals Limited and after a first class Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) that broke several national records, turned around the dead plant and soon caused economic and industrial vibrations in that sector of the Nigerian economy.
Today, the once dead company has recorded many breakthroughs in terms of em- ployment, taxes, dividends (to the federal government, Rivers State government, staff, and host communities), corporate social responsibility and tech- nology transfer.
Now, the Indorama-Ni- geria, which is fast building a world-class fertilizer company as well as an ethanol plant, has moved to construct a top facility at the Onne Port that would create even more jobs and wealth to create a seamless fertilizer handling process from factory to foreign markets via a dedicated terminal at the seaport.
This venture was captured in the company’s in-house journal, IMPACT.
The report: Indorama-Nigeria is indeed in the forefront of industrial and economic transforma- tion of the country.
Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited (IEPL) and its sister company Indorama Eleme Fertilizer & Chemicals Limited (IEFCL) are partnering with Messrs OIS to build a new world-class port terminal complex at Onne Port, near Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at a cost of 130 million US Dollars Managing Director / CEO of Indorama-Nigeria, Manish Mundra, says the project, a huge Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the maritime sector, would be a major boost to Nigeria’s industrialization process and economic development.
“This investment shows our deep commitment in fostering socio-economic prosperity of Nigeria.”
Mundra stated that the port terminal was designed by reputed international engineer- ing companies and construction is being handled by local reputed companies working in collaboration with expatriate engineers and other technical experts.
“In the tradition of Indorama, the port terminal would have state-of-the art facilities and equipment to enhance efficient operations”.
According to Mundra, mechanical completion of the port is scheduled for December 2015 while commissioning is expected by February 2016.
The port complex, which is almost 72 per cent completed, is for exporting of dry bulk Urea fertilizer from Indora- ma’s fertilizer plant also under construction at the Indorama petrochemicals complex in Eleme near Port Harcourt.
The port terminal will also serve for import and export of various types of break-bulk & contain-
erized cargo for the partnering company Messrs OIS.
As a reliable transport and logistics system would play a vital role in transporting Urea from the factory warehouse to the port terminal warehouse, Indorama would provide a fleet of specially designed 40 dump trucks, which would be plying to ensure the supplies and quality.
At present, there is no in- frastructure or facility at the Onne Port to handle dry bulk Urea fertilizer, so this project is highly needed at this Port.
The terminal comprises marine facility of 320 meters quay to handle vessels ranging from 5000 dwt (deadweight) to 35000 dwt and 6.20 hectares of land terminal facility catering to handling & storage of dry bulk urea, break-bulk cargo and containerized cargo.
The terminal is selfcontained with facilities such as power generation, water, waste water treatment& disposal and other utilities like fuel storage, water bunkering, firefighting, workshop, administration, amenities and security, etc.
Apart from all the above, the terminal also comprises facil- ity for 12,000 TEU (twenty feet equivalent units) per annum of containerized cargo.
Operators and stakeholders in the maritime and ports sector are excited about this investment that would create a new value chain, facilitate operations in Onne Port, create more employment opportunities, increase revenue for the Nigerian Ports Authority and the related government agencies and empower host communities.
A visit to the construction site shows that an area, which was mere swamp or wasteland has been cleared & reclaimed with sand fill to become the base of a burgeoning port facility.
The project director Ashwani K. Sood explained that that the construction work was going on as scheduled.
“We have done about 95 per cent of engineering work, 86 per cent of procurements and 60% of construction. So, overall, the port is about 72 per cent completed as at the beginning of March, 2015.”
Sood was elated that the 30 months’ construction work in OnnePort had stimulated many local businesses and also provided employment to local staff and workers.
According to him, the con- struction team is observing high degree of environmental and safety standards as per the norms prescribed by regula- tory authorities.
For instance, he said, “We have completed 1.42 million man-hours with- out Lost-Time-Injury (LTI).”
In terms of environmental impact assessment, Sood said that approvals were obtained from regulatory authorities and relevant ministries while impact assessment, monitoring and mitigation were being carried out during construction work.
He said; “We have also wit- nessed tremendous community support.”
Sood added that special skills training for operations of modern equipment such as shiploaders and portal scrapper-reclaimer would be provided to local staff when the port comes into operation.
