By Emmanuel Nduka
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has secured approval of the Federal Government to privatize the N50 billion modular floating dock which has been idle for over three years.
The floating dock become operational in the first quarter of 2022 on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, and would be used for ship repairs and job creation.
Speaking to journalists in Lagos, Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, assured stakeholders that the agency would revamp the floating dock, and that “the dock would not be solely operated by government or NIMASA alone. We have handed it over under a PPP arrangement. As usual, the issue of privatization of any government property goes through processes, and the floating dock is undergoing those processes.”
“The Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) was here to give us the first certificate, telling us that privatizing the modular floating dock is bankable, doable, profitable and they gave us the go ahead to do that.
“We have also gone ahead with the managing partner and co-partner, which is the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, with the provision of continental shipyard.
“We expect in no distant future latest by February 2022, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) should approve the privatization because it’s a national asset,” he added.
Jamoh said while the cost implications cannot be handled by the Nigerian Government alone, the privatization would aid the floating dock operations and the foreign counterparts will take up the class conditions before the usage deployment.
