Bayelsa woos investors with industrial incentives

Bayelsa State Government has offered said a broad range of incentives to encourage serious investors to come to the state and take active part in its local economy.

The incentives include: institutional framework, infrastructure, tax holidays, legal support, skills development and a clement environment.

 

Kemela Okara, commissioner for trade, industry and investment, disclosed this at a dinner with business executives in Lagos ahead of the Second Bayelsa Economic Investment Forum.

 

According to Okara, the challenge of economic diversification and industrialisation remains a major interest of the state government, hence the need for private sector participation in its economy.

 

The forum, which holds between 29th and 31st of July in Yenegoa, the state capital, focuses on the real sector, notably agriculture, power and oil & gas.

 

Okara said the state hopes to leverage on the success of the maiden edition last year  to  build more collaborations with investors in critical areas like oil and gas, agriculture and power.

 

“From the success of the maiden edition last year which established our credibility as a choice investment destination with an array of lucrative business opportunities, we are leveraging on this outcome at the second economic summit to welcome serious investors into Bayelsa State,” he said.

 

“The state government has already created a stable and business friendly environment for the would-be investors in areas such as infrastructure, tax holiday, attractive Private-Public-Partnerships models and a well run institutional framework through the investment vehicle, the Bayelsa Investment Promotion Agency (BIPA),” he added.

 

He noted that this year’s forum will selling to investors major business areas where the state has comparative advantage In relation to national needs as a way of diversifying the state economy.

 

“Bayelsa State has the largest deposit of natural gas in the country. So we are recommending power generation to investors with a view to adding about 5000 -10, 000mw of power to the national grid,” he stated.

 

“With enormous potential to transform the national economy, we are also interested in mechanised agriculture with all the natural endowments in the state as major incentives, especially in our oil  palm production, rice processing and many others. This is why we are bringing together large-scale farmers to tap into the huge potentials in the state. So the Bayelsa Economic Summit is all about building a private sector-driven economy to create good jobs and get industrialised. We are open for business,” he said.

 

Okara harped on the state government’s desire for industrialisnation, stating that work has begun on the idea of creating the Eco Industrial Parks which is a multi-sector manufacturing location and a real estate for both commercial and residential.

 

He further said a number of MoUs have been signed with major business establishments including the N20 billion Kesio Building Materials Market which has about 5000 stalls to create a cluster for people in that segment of business just as billions of naira has been disbursed  to further boost the medium and small scale enterprises in the state. Other MoUs signed are those in power generation, pharmaceuticals, telecoms, agriculture and ICT, he further said.

 

This year’s edition of the forum entitled, ‘Unfolding Bayelsa State’s Industrial Future’, has so far attracted key private sector players such as Shell Development Company, Okomu Oil Palm, Presco Plc and Olam,  among others.