BY UDO IBUOT
Catamaran Logistics, the  concessionaire for  the Ibadan  Inland Container Depot said that the depot will take-off by May this year.
The company said the depot would commence operations as soon as the on going railway rehabilitation is completed.

Last year,  representatives of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, the Oyo State Shippers’ Association, the Ibadan Chamber of Commerce, the Nigerian Police and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), held a meeting to discuss the  successful completion of the Ibadan ICD project.

The meeting was also attended by representatives Catamaran Logistics Limited and Erunmu, the local community on which the project is located.

President of Oyo State and South_West Shippers’ Association, Ayo Omotosho, said that some structures at the project site, including the stacking bays, are ready.

Specifically, the building to accommodate Customs officials and other government agencies deployed to work at the depot are ready, Omotosho said.

However, he disclosed that the major challenge facing the project was the need to construct the rail side line to link Ibadan with the ICD in Erunmu, a suburb of Ibadan.

The main rail line connecting Lagos to Ibadan, he said, is fast being rehabilitated. This will pave the way for the extension of rail link to the project site when the rehabilitation of the main line is completed.

The Ibadan ICD project apparently, has been the fastest of all the six designated centers largely due to the support of the Oyo State government whose Governor, Adebayo Akala and the Commissioner for Commerce and Co_operative, Kola Balogun, are said to be excited about  the imperative and benefits of the project.

Aside from the Ibadan project, the five other projects sites have also recorded more than 50 percent completion.

The concessionaires are  Eastgate Inland Container Terminal Limited located at Isiala Ngwa, Aba in Abia State; Dala Inland Dry Port Limited in Kano, Duncan Maritime Services in Jos, Plateau State, as well as the Ibadan project being executed by Catamaran Logistics Limited.

In addition to these, two Container Freight Stations (CFS) were approved for Funtua and Maiduguri under the same agreement.
Equatorial Marine Nigeria Limited won the concession for the Funtua CFS, while Migfo Nigeria Limited won the concession to run the Maiduguri freight station.

While the Aba and Ibadan ICD have a designated capacity for 50,000 TEUs each, the Kano and Jos ICDs have a capacity for 20,000 TEUs each and the Funtua and Maiduguri CFS, much smaller facilities, are expected to be equipped with capacity to handle 10,000 TEUs each.

Since 2006, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), promoters and supervisors of the project, has worked relentlessly to secure the necessary lands from the  state governments and has recorded various levels of success. In Kano, Isiala _ Ngwa and the initial site in Funtua, compensation have been paid and certificates of occupancy in Kano, Isiala_Ngwa, Jos have been completely processed.