It has been ascertained that the Agro-Industrial Park project being executed by the Delta State government at Aboh-Ogwashi, Aniocha South Local Government Area, would be inaugurated in November 2022.
Speaking shortly after inspecting ongoing works at the park on Thursday, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who said that the contracting firm had assured the completion of the project, explained that the project was necessary to enhance the development of the state’s agro potential.
According to him, the basic infrastructure was being put in place at the park to meet the completion target, even as he lauded the host community for support and cooperation for the project “which holds a lot for mutual benefits for the community and investors”.
“Let me appreciate the level of cooperation we have had with the Ogwashi-Uku community because they gave us over 180 hectares of land for the Agro-Industrial Park.
“We thought the park was necessary because of the need to help develop our agricultural potential in this state and the Park is actually meant for agro-processing and we are using rice mill as the nucleus of the industrial production coming up in this place.
“But many other agro-industry processing facilities and industries are supposed to come in here and you can see that there are already mapped out commercial plots ready for allocation for companies that want to come in.
“The basic infrastructure at the centre is already being put in place, not just for the rice mills; you have service quarters, warehouses and many other things that are going to come in, including the source of power.
“The most important thing about this park is the river which means that we are able to provide irrigation services all year round from that river.
“I have drawn their attention to the need to start the road development in the park because of the rainy season that is about to set in because that’s the only setback they are likely going to have.
“The contractor has promised to deliver the project towards the end of November which means if they start the road project now, they will still have time during the break in August and in the later part of October to finish with the road project,” Okowa said.
He pointed out that establishing a rice factory in the park would help to encourage out-growers across the state to help feed the rice mill and engender a direct positive impact on Deltans.
“The process of encouraging out-growers and giving them rice seedlings that are very high-yielding and with agricultural extension support services that will be provided to our people will definitely impact directly on the families that will be engaged in the rice farming.
“This will help to create jobs and multiply the family income of the communities around Ogwashi-Uku and even across the entire state.
“We are also expecting that many other agro-processing companies will come in place and that will begin to stir up developments in other areas beyond rice.
“The park is a community of its own where you have various agro-processing industries co-sharing common facilities for agro-industrialisation in the state,” he stated.
On the Kwale Industrial Park, the governor said that it had suffered delay because of COVID-19 but expressed optimism about making it a free trade zone.
He said that the state government was working with the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment to designate the park as an Export Processing Zone.
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