Jobson Ewalefoh, the director-general of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, says the construction of the $3.5 billion Bakassi Deep Seaport would soon commence.

He said this at a high-level stakeholders’ meeting where a statement of endorsement for the port project was signed.

According to a statement on Monday, the ICRC boss, who said the construction would commence under the administration of Governor Bassey Otu of Cross, assured that the project would be completed in record time.

He said his assurance was premised on four things, including that the state government had demonstrated the great commitment and zeal required for the project.

He said others were the newly streamlined ICRC public-private partnership processes, securing a financier for the project, and the support of all other stakeholders present.

Mr Ewalefoh said the $3.5 billion project, whose funding has been secured from the African Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank), will be executed as a PPP project.

He said the ICRC had streamlined its PPP processes to ensure they were faster than before.

He assured the Cross River governor that the project would be completed under his tenure with the support of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the Shippers Council and all the stakeholders.

Mr Ewalefoh said that the port was important as it would diversify the traffic from the Western Port and serve as a succour to the Eastern parts of Nigeria.

He added that the Bakassi Deep Seaport is an agro value chain port that will explore the potential in the nation’s agricultural sector in the South-South part of Nigeria, the North, and all of Africa.

(NAN)