The Transport Minister, Senator Idris Umar, said yesterday that the inland river port in Onitsha, the commercial center of the South-east would soon become operational, reports The Sun News.
At the 19th Leadership Forum of the Pilot Newspapers in Abuja, Senator Umar assured that work on the port has been over 95% completed and the facility must start its operations in the next two months. He stressed that even though he had made a promise that the port would be operational at the end of last year, some basic facilities needed for the port functioning were missing.
Umar further indicated that a similar port would soon open in Niger State also on the bank of River Niger.
“The dredging of the lower Niger River has been completed from Warri to Niger State, so there is no reason the river ports on this axis would not come on board ,” he said.
Umar was also confident that the present administration will get six inland dry ports at Isiala Ngwa, Kano and some other locations functioning before the end of the tenure in 2015.
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Dredging Today Staff, March 20, 2012;