Dala is investing over $30m to develop inland port in Kano, says Rabiu

Dala Inland Port is a public private partnership project with Kano State holding 20 percent equity and Emirate Council holding 5 percent. In this interview Ahmad Rabiu, chairman of the company tells the story of efforts put in place to actualize the port project.

The journey so far

Dala Inland dry port in Zawachiki, Kano State was concessioned to us in 2003 and we signed concession agreement with the Federal Government in 2006. We have been through all the required processes for getting the land, the land title, approval for building, moving to the site and having a site office, signing agreement with technical partners and getting everything required for take-off. We have over 200 hectares for the last 14 years designated for the project.

All these we have achieved with very massive support from Kano State Government and the Emirate Council. However, through continuous follow up and excessive pressure, we have been able to get the State Government to meet its own side of the concession agreement signed on 26 September 2006.

We ought to have commenced construction and operations several years ago, but the only outstanding issue has been for government to declare the port as the port of origin and destination, so that it will be recognised by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as a port to which goods came be consigned to, and from where goods can also be consigned to another destination, be it sea or inland port located anywhere in the world.

We are hopeful that with the current development, this would soon be done and as raining season has gone in Kano and land is easier to develop now, we believe that in few weeks we will embark rigorously on construction works. Immediately, the Minister of Transport declares Dala Inland port in kano, ‘port of origin and destination,’ it will only take about six months to complete construction.

Support from Kano State Government

The Kano State Government has been very supportive and has even taken 20 percent equity. The kano Emirate Council has 5 percent equity while the rest of the funding comes from us and other indigenous equity holders as well. Beyond that, we have a very large chuck of funds coming from our foreign partners, which we will channel into providing all the terminal equipment and others.

The cost of the project

The entire business is a little above $30 million but the first phase will take about $14 million US dollars but part of it is going to come from equity. The equity funding will take about 30 to 40 percent of the required funds and the rest will come from banks. Our foreign partner is also bringing equity but discussion with them shows that they want 51 percent stake. These are all business issues that we are discussing given the fact that who owns majority stake in business, takes control but we are on it right now.

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council support

The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), which is the coordinating agency, has been very committed to the project, though it was hampered by the FG’s declaration. The current minister of transport came to say that we should do more than we are doing now if we want our ports to be declared as origin and destination, forgetting that we have been on this project many years before he became minister.

The minister ought to have found out what we need to do to for the success of this project, and give them to us as his support. We have done beyond what the minister said we should do. Not only have we passed through stress such that we have worked with nothing less than five ministers of transport. The time that Kaduna was declared, we taught it was Dala port was declared only to find out that it was Kaduna.

From concept to design and to the level that we are now, we have gone through so many challenges but regrettably, it has been hampered by politics such that when we do everything to get to the stage of declaration, it would be suspended. This is what happens in a political space but we are businessmen and we are friendly with every government especially this government that inherited all those issues we complained of. If the government makes the declaration say 31st of January by 31st of July, the port will be ready because within six months we will mobilise to site and we are ready to mobilize as we speak.

How viable is the project?

Dala Inland Dry Port Kano is the most viable inland port project in Nigeria. There were six of them that were approved but Kano would be the most viable among all of them given the fact that it was located in the hinterland that is far away from the port. By our studies, the cargo throughput that is destined for Kano through Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports is substantially large and that is why we are building about 20,000TEUs terminal. Next is the Isiala-Ngwa in Abia state, which is also 20,000TEUs and you know the volume of cargo that goes to that area then the next is Ibadan. We are not only going to services the North-West part of Nigeria but will also cater for some part of the North-Central and some of the other neighbouring countries that depend on the Nigeria seaport for export and import goods.

We are located in the hinterland and no matter the situation; people will need us because if you don’t have to do cargo clearance in Kano, you would have to go to Lagos port to clear your cargo, which has additional cost in the area of air ticket, accommodation and other issues to deal with.

There are two projects that give us advantage and they include Kano-Kaduna-Malabi corridor that is promoted by the Nigerian Business Joint Commission to facilitate movement of goods within that corridor. There is also the LAKAJI Corridor, which also facilitate movement of goods from Lagos-Kano-Jabi till Niger Republic. We are in touch with these corridors and we are also collaborating with, and getting a lot of support from the USAID on the same project. The Inland port would also operate in form of a free zone and this would give some many advantages over others.

Infrastructural issues

The rail line is the most critical infrastructural issue that can on the project. For instance, the Lagos-Kano rail is critical to the project because already the rail is connected from Lagos-Ibadan-Kano. We are hopefully that the laying of the rail will commence from the two angles from the Kano angle and that Ajaokuta would be alive to produce the required steel for building of the rail track.

Regrettably, nothing much has been done but we are hopeful that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari would enable Nigerians to benefit from what they should. The movement of from the seaport to the inland port is not going to increase the traffic on the road because we are not going to move our cargo by road, it would come by rail and by the time we commence operations, the rail would have stood firm.  When we start, it will actually reduce the traffic on our roads because all the containers that are carried by trucks would be moved by rail.

Proposed commencement date

We are hopeful that the pronouncement would take place before the end of first quarter and it would take like six months to complete construction because the most important thing is that we have the required resource. We have in the last 13 years received promises that never happened. We would have been making nothing less than $5-10million every month if we are operational.