By GODWIN ORITSE

Federal Government, through the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, has concluded plans to concession Onitsha River port to boost business activities in the Eastern part of the country.

Managing Director of the Authority, Arch.Ahmed Aliyu Yar’Adua, who disclosed this yesterday, said the port was about 98% complete.

Yar’Adua also disclosed that the Infrastructural Concession Regulation Commission, ICRC, had appointed a consultant that will oversee both the bidding and concessioning process.

It was gathered that the government decided to concession the port following the successful dredging of the lower River Niger.

Vanguard learnt that importers and manufacturers had started making use of the waterways by moving materials from Lokoja and other parts of the country to Onitsha.

The NIWA boss who stated this during a tour of the dredged river by members of the House of Representative Committee on Marine Transport, also noted that the port was a great potential waiting to be tapped.

Speaking in a similar  vein, the Chairman of the Committee, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi said, everything must be done to make the port functional because it is strategic to the Eastern markets.