Buyer-interest swells for Heartland Gateway Market complex as traders group buys in
Interest of buyers in the Heartland Gateway International Market Complex in Imo State is growing with more interest groups buying into the project which promises to be the biggest and most modern of its kind in the South Eastern part of Nigeria.
The latest interest is coming from traders under the auspices of Phones and Allied Products Dealers Association (PRADA) in Computer Village , Ikeja, Lagos who, on Wednesday last week, signed an off-take agreement for the purchase of 2,500 lock-up shops in the market still under construction.
The elaborate signing ceremony which took place in the Ikoyi office of M.I.Okoro & Associate who are the Marking Agents for the market complex had in attendance the concessionaire—Graceland Channels Limited, PRADA executives and their lawyers, and a representative of the Imo State governor.
The market complex located in Mgbidi, a border town central to Anambra, Delta, Enugu, Rivers and Imo states, is a joint venture project between Imo State government and Graceland Channels Limited aimed to deliver 10,000 lock up shops, warehouses and a housing estate.
It will be sitting on 29 hectares of land and, according to Meckson Innocent Okoro, the Principal Partner at M.I. Okoro & Associates, the market is a “Think-home Investment Concept” aimed to attract investments from Igbo people who have their investments in various parts of the country.
“On completion, this plaza will be the biggest and most modern type of market in Nigeria; it is the first of its kind in any part of the South East Nigeria with the potential to re-energize the economic activities of this region and also to create jobs for its people”, he said.
Okoro, whose views were contained in a speech he presented at the event, also disclosed that as an accompaniment of the international market, 200 hectares of land has also been approved for the concessionaire to develop 3,000 housing units for both residential and commercial purposes in anticipation of increased demand for housing by those who would be using the market.
Nat Omoruyi, the CEO of Graceland Channels, explained that “the vision of the project is to build a market city where you can get anything you can get in any other city”, pointing out that the market boasts schools, hospitals, restaurants, housing estate, filling station, etc.
According to him, the market would, on completion, employ over 2,000 workers, thanking Imo State government for the opportunity given to his company to develop the market which he described as an “international market for international business”.
“We have done joint ventures in the past, but I can tell you that Imo State government stands out. We had a straightforward deal with the government in this project and all those bottlenecks that delay project approvals were not seen in this case”, he said.
In his brief remarks, Alfred Ononugbo, Special Assistant to Governor Rochas Okorocha and Imo State Liaison Officer in Lagos, who represented the governor at the event, assured both the promoters and investors in this market of the state government’s commitment to providing enabling business environment for them.
The governor’s rep noted that Igbo investors including traders, industrialists, manufacturers, transporters, etc, have well over N800 billion investments scattered in different parts of the country, pointing out that the market project was a wake-up call for the Igbos to come home and invest.
“Businesses all over the world thrived on a peaceful and secure environment, hence the state government’s commitment to ensuring that investments in the state are safe and free of any encumbrances; Igbos are vanguards of peace who believe that no business survives in a hostile environment”, he noted, assuring further that the issue of security was non-negotiable.