MMCC woos investors at 2022 World Hydrography Day exhibition

An infrastructure development and maritime related company, Mercury Maritime Concession Company (MMCC), last week exhibited its various projects to potential investors and Nigeria at the 2022 World Hydrography Day held at the Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island, Lagos.

During the exhibition, the company showed some of its projects to the Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola SarakI, Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo and other top head of maritime agencies.

The Chairman of MMCC, Rear Admiral Andrew Okoja, said that the company has embarked on several projects in the country, noting that one of the projects is the Escravos Seaport Industrial Complex (ESIC-1) project situated  in Delta State.

According to him, the Escravos Seaport Industrial Complex (ESIC-1) project comprises of deep seaport, industrial layouts, an independent power plant, a nature conservation park, an international airport and the development of prime infrastructure, new towns and cities.

The Escravos  deep seaport’s phase one would be delivered  between 2024 and 2025, adding that the project would be on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) model for a period of 50 years with funding coming from overseas.

He said the value of the deep seaport is determined by cargo flow, and it has taken care of several connectivity such as marine, rail and road connectivity, adding that because of the size of the project, it is going to capture about 70 per cent of geographical space of the country.

“I will give you an instance, the marine connectivity goes from Escravos port into the River Niger up to Onitsha and from Onitsha, the second phase will go up to Lokoja. The first phase of the project is about 350 kilometers from the port to Onitsha. From Onitsha to Lokoja is about 200 kilometers.

“Now we have signed an MoU with Swiss Canal Authority of Egypt, they are the operator and they are going to open it up. Very soon they are going to get their first visit to this port. The connectivity of the port is going to be concessioned, which is being processed with the Ministry of Transport. It will be concessioned between 50 and 75 years.

“When we do it, we will recover our money by tolling and the second connectivity is the rail, which will connect the port to Warri, Itape and up to Ajaokuta.

“But the segment, which we have taken is about 47 kilometers is from Escravos port to Warri is also concession and is going to have electric train. That will be the first electric train in Nigeria,” he explained.

He said the the third phase of the project  is a direct through from Escravos seaport to join Warri-Sapele road around Koko junction, which will be concessioned for about 50 years.

He said the project have flowing of cargo going in and out of the seaport, saying that the project would attracts $50 billion.

He said that the port will generate 2000 mega watt of power for its use and beyond, adding that MMC has gotten approval from the Federal Government to build the seaport.