New Telegraph

Swiber Africa, Powerchina seal $500m agric industrial deal in Abia

Abdulwahab Isa Abuja

 

An indigenous firm, Swiber Africa Nigeria Limited, has sealed an agreement with Powerchina, a Chinabased firm, for the establishment of a $500 million agriculture industrial zone in Abia State.

 

Billed for take-off January next year, the industrial zone designed to cover five communities in Abia State will deal with crops planting and processing plants for rice, cassava, cashew nut and other related products. It comes with about 200,000 direct job opportunities.

 

The five beneficiary communities in the state are Alayi, Igbere, Ozuitem, Abiriba and Ukwueke. Speaking at the signing ceremony yesterday in Abuja, a former Abia State Governor and Chief Whip of the Senate, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, described the event as historic. He expressed joy over the project, which he described as another opportunity to feed Nigerians and export the left overs.

 

He added: “This is not a Federal Government project but I think in the future the government will come to our aid. “Any day I leave politics, I will go back home to Abia State.

 

It’s a large expanse of land and project worth about $500 million. “We want the Federal Government to come to our aid. There is a lot of work to be done. We also hope that the Customs will come to our aid.

“This zone is going to create a lot of jobs. I thank everybody participating in today’s signing.”

Kalu gave assurance that the Abia State Government would buy into the project. In his remarks, Managing Director of Powerchina in Nigeria, Mr. Diego Tian, expressed happiness over the joint partnership with Swiber Africa Nigeria Limited. He said the firm wasn’t new to Nigeria, noting that it had undertaken some key projects before now.

He said: “PowerChina is a wholly state-owned construction group from China, which is the largest power, electricity and infrastructure construction group in the world. “Our businesses include hydropower, solar power, thermal power, water works, agriculture, housing and transportation.

“Nigeria is always our priority market. Over the past 20 years, we have completed and delivered many successful projects such as Papalanto 335MW gas fired power plant and 750MW gas fired power plant in Ogun State, the Kainji/Jebba Hydroelectric Power Plant in Niger state, and the Dadin Kowa 40MW Hydropower Plant in Gombe State.”

The Managing Director, Swiber Africa Nigeria Limited, Mr. Emeka Ebo, said his company’s partnership with Powerchina would yield mutually beneficial results on both sides. He thanked Kalu for always bringing development to Abia State.

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