ON OKOWA’S RECENT EFFORTS WITH CHINESE INVESTORS KWALE INDUSTRIAL PARK, PTI’S CANVASS FOR OSUBI AIRSTRIP, UPGRADE FOR DIGITAL HUB

By Zik Gbemre

With reports that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta recently told prospective investors in China that Delta State Government was ready to provide $10 million counterpart fund for the construction of Kwale Industrial Park in the State. The Governor who traveled to China to woo investors for the multi-million dollars project, stated this at the Kwale Industrial Park Road Show in Shenyang, China. The high-point of the roadshow was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Delta government and a Chinese agricultural company to grow and process soya beans at the Kwale park.

For me, I believe the said Kwale Industrial Park being pursued by Okowa, is a step in the right direction because, Kwale has actually been neglected by past Governments in the area of development and capital projects, despite being an oil producing area. In other words, we do not have any issue with the Okowa Government’s plan to establish the said Kwale Industrial Park. However, another question we would like to draw the attention of the Delta State Okowa-led administration is, what happened to the abandoned Warri Industrial Park, which foundation was laid by his predecessor, former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan? What is the fate of the Warri Industrial Park?

One would have expected that there should be ‘continuity’, especially for capital projects, by every successive Government. Without continuity in Government, we would continue to have ‘abandoned projects’ all over Delta State. There are other of such projects from the previous administration of Uduaghan, which have been abandoned by the Okowa Government. Some of these failed/abandoned Projects in Delta State are: The N23.2 billion Delta State Independent Power Plant (1PP) Project at Oghara, Ethiope West LGA, Delta State; The N6billion Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Lane Project that was supposed to start from Effurun Round-about and terminate at the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Warri Delta State, which the current Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa Government had to spend more money to dismantle all the BRT Bust Stands along the road, however the ongoing Road Expansion And Drainage System are still left abandoned; of course, The Multi-billion Naira Warri Industrial Park at Edjeba, Warri Delta State, which N9 billion has already been reportedly expended, with over N1billion of State funds spent on master planning, EIA and consultancy as of 2011. An additional N3 billion was reportedly put in the 2012 Budget, N2 billion was allocated in the 2013 budget, and N3 billion was reserved for the project in the 2014 budget, yet there is little or nothing to show for the huge capital outlay.

Others are: The Second Runway and Expansion/Upgrade Of Osubi Airport Project at Osubi near Warri Delta State; The $250m Delta Leisure and Theme Park, Oleri. Touted as one of the key projects by Uduaghan, but the Delta Leisure and Theme Park, Oleri, Udu LGA of the State, remains a controversial project that has been abandoned. And the list goes on and on.

Now that Okowa has hinted plans to establish a Kwale Industrial Park, what assurance do we have that the said project will be completed under Okowa? And if not, will the same Industrial Park project not be abandoned by the next administration? This is why we said there has to be continuity of projects by Government, for the State to make any headway in terms of industrialization. If every Government abandons project left behind by its predecessor, then that means there is every tendency for the Government that will come after it to also abandon what the last Government started. This is not what makes a god Government. A good Government should be able to continue from where its predecessor stopped, even as it embarks on its own agendas it came in with.

This brings us to the second subject matter. Where it was reported that, in a bid to realize the full potentials of its Digital hub programmes christened DIPTI, the management of Petroleum Institution (PTI), has called for the upgrade of the Osubi Airstrip to accommodate larger flights that would be coming to Warri, Delta state.

Principal and Chief Executive of the institution, Prof. Sunny Iyuke, made the call during the 2019 pre-convocation ceremony press conference held at the institution’s council chambers recently. According to him, when the DIPTI is fully implemented, “IBM for instance will have their own stand; Microsoft will have their stand as well as Google will have their stand. I think at that point everybody would be happy and I think at that point too, we should all contribute to have a better airstrip because this airstrip will not be long enough to entertain the visitors that would be coming”.

We have been on the call for the upgrade/expansion of the Osubi Airstrip to a Standard Airport that can accommodate bigger aircrafts, for so many years now and still counting. But all of our pleas/calls seem to have fallen on deaf ears of those concerned, especially the Delta State Government. The major work that is required of the Government here is to ‘increase the size of the Osubi Airstrip runway’ so that large aircrafts can land at the Airstrip that will be turned into a Standard Airport. This will result in economies of scale, reduce air fares and increase the number of flights and passengers. A major limitation of the Osubi Airstrip is the size of its runway, which is shorter than that of virtually all other airports in the country. The Osubi Airstrip is about 1,800meters as against the normal length of about 3,000meters for most (domestic) airports in Nigeria.

What makes this something that can be easily obtainable for the Delta State Government to execute, is the fact that the land for the said expansion is already there, as acquired by Shell (SPDC), for the State Government to use for the said Airstrip’s expansion/upgrade to a Standard Airport. With the evident fact that all lands belongs to the Government according to the Land USE Act, the Okowa-led administration should make the efforts in this regard, by spearheading the upgrading of the said Osubi Airstrip to a standard Airport, and not leave it in the hands of the current Operators, Shoreline Natural Resources that took over Shell divested assets.

One of the sure ways of entrenching development is by embarking on people-oriented infrastructural projects and creating the secured and enabling environment for all kinds of businesses and investors to be attracted to. This will automatically create jobs for the teeming youths in the oil city of Warri and environs. That is what made Dubai, London, New York, Tokyo, Beijing, etc. what they are today. Development is not wishful thinking but by taking concise and deliberate actions.

Zik Gbemre.

October 28, 2019

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