Shippers Council assures project will boost trans-sahara trade
By Sulaimon Salau
The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) has assured that the Dala Inland Dry Port (IDP) will be ready for operations by November, 2021.
The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shipper’s Council (NSC), Emmanuel Jime, who disclosed this during inspection of the on-going construction at the Dala Inland Dry Port site at Zawachiki in Kano State, said the project would boost trans-sahara trade developments and indeed the AfCFTA.
Jime declared the Dala Inland Dry Port as a pace-setter for other Dry Ports in the country.
He said: “Kano leads the way as far as commercial activities are concerned, as all the states in the Northern part of Nigeria regard Kano as the commercial hub”.
The NSC boss said that the support and partnership of the Kano State Government with regard to the development of the Dala IDP should be emulated by other state governments.
“Dala Dry Port when completed, will help to decongest the seaports, reduce the cost of doing business and provide an avenue for shippers in the hinterland and neighboring countries like Niger, Chad, and Benin to have their cargoes transported to their doorsteps” he said.
The Chairman/CEO of the Dala Inland Dry Port, Abubakar Sahabo Bawuro appreciated the Kano State Government and Nigerian Shippers’ Council for their roles in bringing the dry port project to actualization.
He further pleaded for support of the Council to fast track the conferment of the dry port’s status as a Port of Origin and Port of Destination.
He assured that construction at the Dala port would be completed by the end of November 2021 and full operation will commence.
As part of its continuous Corporate Social Responsibility to the community, the company is constructing a school in the premises for children of the less privileged, a project undertaken at the insistence of the Transport Minister,Rotimi Amaechi.
Bawuro said the IDP will attract volumes of economic activities to the state, boost the infrastructural development, increase the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), and also increase employment opportunities.
