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OGFZA to license new free zone in Delta

By Editor
20 February 2017   |   3:37 am
The Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) is set to break new grounds with plans to license another Oil and Gas Free Zone in Delta State.

The management team of OGFZA led by Umana Okon Umana (first right) along with officials of ANL after the facility tour.

The Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) is set to break new grounds with plans to license another Oil and Gas Free Zone in Delta State.

After an inspection visit to the proposed free zone, which is located in Okitigbo in Warri North of Delta State, the managing director of OGFZA, Umana Okon Umana, said that he was impressed with the level of physical development of the proposed free trade hub and the readiness of its promoters, Awaritse Nigeria Limited (ANL), to acquire an oil and gas free zone status for it.

Umana informed the promoters of the proposed free zone that they would have to comply with a set of requirements from OGFZA, after which a recommendation would be forwarded to the president to grant the facility a licence to operate as an oil and gas free trade zone.

Noting that the proposed free zone is into both upstream and downstream activities in the oil and gas sector, the OGFZA boss commended the management of ANL for keying into the drive by the Federal Government for foreign direct investments.

He said he was pleased that the project was a 100 per cent Nigerian initiative, and expressed the hope that the Koko Port, which is near the project site, would be integrated into it in the future.

In a presentation to the OGFZA team, secretary and legal adviser to the board of ANL, Desmond Dudu, said the proposed free zone sits on a land area of 87, 044 hectares with a plan to increase it by another 80, 000 hectares.

Dudu also said that based on discussions with prospective foreign investors who are only waiting for the zone to be licensed before they come in, the project would attract more than $100 million in foreign direct investments in the first instance, adding that when it is completed the free zone is expected to generate 2,170 direct and indirect jobs.

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