The Nation Newspaper

Tag: free zone

  • Notore Oil dreams big over Free Zone developer status

    The Free Zone developer’s status granted to Notore Chemical Industries Plc will enable the oil and gas petrochemical industry to create 15,000 jobs and attract $5 billion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), it was learnt yesterday.

    The company has a direct port access and a dedicated jetty at Onne Complex, near Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

    Notore was awarded the Free Zone status by the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) last December.

    On the company’s prospects, Managing Director/CEO Mr. Onajite Okoloko said the goal was to set up an industrial oil and gas and petrochemical complex that would attract investments and create thousands of jobs for Nigerians.

    He added that the company was in a unique position, given that the Onne Complex is located within the Notore Free Zone, which provides “significant tax benefits and advanced logistics solutions for international distribution of products”.

    “The Onne Complex comprises approximately 560 hectares of land owned by Notore with 2km of waterfront including the Notore Port and a dedicated jetty, with a capacity to accommodate vessels with a maximum volume of 15,000MT, all owned by the group. “Direct port status through ownership of the Notore Port gives the group easy access to the Atlantic Ocean for easy import of raw materials and export of the group’s products to the rest of the world, as well as a more cost-effective operation, which is a strong competitive advantage,” Okoloko said.

    The Notore chief executive said his company would in the next few months roll out its plan for the industrial complex at Onne, adding that part of the objective was to make it a hub for gas utilisation that will serve as the feedstock for its fertilizer, petrochemical and power plants.

    Okoloko said: “Through our gas sale agreement with an indigenous oil and gas company, Eroton Exploration & Production Limited, we have guaranteed gas supply to the complex.

    “So the gas supply shortages that we once experienced are a thing of the past. With this in place, we can now focus on the construction of the second train for Notore, which will co-produce 1,000,000MT of fertilizer per annum and half a million metric tonnes of methanol annually at Notore’s certified brownfield site.

    “This together with its existing plant is expected to achieve an aggregate increase in Notore’s fertilizer production capacity from 500,000MMTPA to approximately 1,500,000MTPA of fertilizer and also introduce 500,000MTPA of other petrochemicals.

    “Discussions are progressing with Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan and other investors while preliminary studies have started for Train 2.”

    Notore is in discussions with Mitsubishi on developing a methanol plant at the site and is seeking alliances with other petrochemical, oil and gas logistics and infrastructure companies and financial and strategic investors to participate in developing the Free Zone.

    Okoloko described OGFZA as a very important enabler of industrialisation in Nigeria, adding: “This zone will diversify the company’s focus on refining, methanol, power, E&P logistics and hydrocarbon processing.

    “I also hope that it will spur wider growth in the Nigerian economy, moving economic activity towards the higher end of the value chain. We look forward to continuing to work towards the achievement of Notore’s goal of being a world-class industrial complex.”

  • Lekki Free zone and Lagos’ economic potential

    SIR: Lagos remains the economic and commercial hub of Nigeria and, indeed, the entire West-African sub-region. It generates 26.7% significant portion of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, besides over 50% of non-oil sector to her credit. Most of these come from taxes, levies, dues and rates paid on commercial transactions that daily take place in the Central Business District of Lagos Island. More importantly, most of the country’s corporate business headquarters, multinational companies and investment organizations are located in Lagos.

    The demands of the increasing population that migrate from other parts of the country have a compelling influence on the development of infrastructures and social amenities in the area of housing, hospitality, transportation. All these are investment opportunities which have expanded the scope entrepreneurship in the commercial nerve centre, called Lagos.

    Over the years, Lagos state has been blessed with visionary leaders who have committed themselves to exploring to the maximum the economic and commercial potentials of the state. On a daily basis diverse people from different parts of the world come into Lagos to explore her numerous economic and commercial potentials. This has paved way for progressive increase in the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of the state as well as in her ability to meet critical financial obligations. Today, Lagos targets to hit N50billion as IGR by the end of the current year.

    In a bid to further enhance the economic fortunes of the state and expand the frontiers of the ever growing mega city, Lekki Free Trade Zone, LFTZ, was conceived in partnership with China-Africa Lekki Investment Company.  An initiative of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, the Zone sits on over 3000 hectares of land along the coastal corridor. The blueprint, over the years, has manifested into physical infrastructural development along the Lekki corridor.

    Towards the full realization of the Lekki Free Trade Zone initiative, the Ambode administration has committed over N2billion in partnership with the Dangote group as a major stakeholder in the construction of a deep sea port that is valued at about N4billion in the zone. The idea is to turn the Lekki corridor into a thriving industrial, commercial and economic hub. As a one stop business community with its full complements, the zone is being equipped with capacity to generate its own electricity. The construction of over 36 kilometres inner roads have been completed for the benefits of subscribers. Meanwhile, proper security arrangement has been put in place to ensure that lives and properties are well secured in the zone. A police station has been completed in this regards.

    Presently, over116 investors have registered with Lekki free Trade Zone, out of which 16 have commenced full operations while another 100 have signified their intention to register and situate their business within the zone. Against bureaucratic delay of involved in clearing goods/raw materials, with its attendant cost implications at the nation’s ports of entry, investors who operate at the zone are exempted from paying import duties on raw materials imported for production/ excise duties for final products if not sold to local market. As part of method of operation, duties will only be paid only on products that are sold into local market.

    As against the over dependence of many states in the country on federal allocation as major source of revenue, Lagos is practically extending her frontiers of wealth creation by providing basic infrastructures, capable of driving Lekki Free Trade Zone to generate further wealth for the state and, indeed, the country as a whole. Without a doubt, by the time current efforts of the state government and her partners to transform the Lekki Free Zone into a huge economically thriving focal point, the state and its residents would be the better for it.

     

    • Bolaji Odumade,

    Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • ‘Low cost power coming for Onne Free Zone’

    ‘Low cost power coming for Onne Free Zone’

    Regulatory agency, the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), is partnering an investor to roll out embedded power at lower cost at Onne Free Zone within the next eight months, it was learnt yesterday.

    Addressing investors in the zone and other stakeholders at a joint stakeholders’ forum on improved service delivery in Onne, OGFZA Managing Director Mr. Umana Okon Umana said the move was aimed at reducing the cost of doing business in the zone.

    “In order to reduce the cost of doing business in the free zones regulated by OGFZA, we are partnering with an investor to provide embedded power supply in Onne Free Zone within the next eight months. “We   are   also   seriously   addressing   the   challenge   of   high   cost   of   doing business in the free zone arising from other tariffs. We have engaged all the stakeholders in this regard, including developers of the free zone and the IOCs, all of who have agreed that the tariffs are way too high and must come   down.

    “In this regard, the authority in line with the extant law and regulations will soon be issuing a new schedule of tariffs, which would be applicable in the free zones ,” Umana said.

    Umana, who reported other successful OGFZA initiatives to the forum of stakeholders, described the efforts as the fulfilment of the commitments in the roadmap of the agency, which was drawn up early in the year.

    He said: “I am happy to report also that in March this year, the authority in compliance with the extant law and regulations implemented a modified Standard Operating Procedure to enhance transparency, accountability and efficiency.

    “Furthermore, in line with the commitment made in our roadmap, we have begun the full automation of our processes with the deployment of the Oracle Cloud  application for all aspects of our operations. The   deployment   of   the application and the training of staff to operate it are ongoing.

    “When it is fully operational, the Oracle application would make it all too easy to achieve our set goals of meeting a new licence request within 14 days and a renewal request within 48 hours.”

    The forum was jointly organised with the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), whose comptroller-general, Col. Hameed Ali (rtd), pledged to partner OGFZA to achieve the best of the free zones.

    Col. Ali explained that achieving improved service delivery in terms of timely clearance of goods from the ports and other measures of efficiency depends on “honest customs declaration by traders, proper utilisation of temporary importation permits, strict compliance with free trade regulations and prompt perfection of declarations on provisional release procedure”.

    The forum, which was highly interactive, featured the presentation of technical papers on the Ease of Doing Business and on the Customs perspective on improved service delivery.

  • Eko Support Free Zone ready this year, says OGFZA MD

    Eko Support Free Zone ready this year, says OGFZA MD

    The Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) plans to set up a structure that will help Eko Support Services Limited – an Apapa, Lagos-based oil and gas free zone – to fully function and enjoy the complete benefits of an oil and gas free zone, it was learnt yesterday.

    OGFZAManaging Director Mr. Umana Okon Umana, who unveiled the regulatory plan when he visited Eko Support during the week, said the plan will enable the free zone enjoy the benefits as provided for in the extant regulations of OGFZA and its establishment Act of 1996.

    Umana said OGFZA would help Eko Support to take full advantage of its free zone licence and exercise the full authority of its free zone status by adopting a standard operating procedure that has been fully tested at Onne Free Zone and keyed into the Executive Order of the Federal Government on the Ease of Doing Business.

    “A licence is a piece of paper. What you make of the licence is the issue,” Umana told the management team of Eko Support led by Seni Edu, the general manager of the free zone, who was on hand to receive the visiting team from OGFZA.

    “We have a model in Onne that is working. We would adapt the model and even improve on it by setting up a structure to run the system for the benefits of the operator, clients and government,” he added.

    He said OGFZA would have to interface with government for the free zone operator and investors with regard to taxes, immigration, customs, security and other regulatory issues by setting up a one-stop shop infrastructure to enhance the ease of doing business in the zone.

    In a presentation to the OGFZA team, Edu listed a number of concerns that he wanted OGFZA to look into, including space constraint and policy direction. Addressing the question of space constraint at Eko Support, Umana agreed that the free zone needed more space to optimise its operations and succeed in providing support services to its clients, adding that the space constraint challenge could be overcome by creating a sub-zone for Eko Support.

    Umana also addressed the question of apparent confusion in policy direction, saying whatever challenge there was in that regard would be fully taken care of by the ongoing review at the National Assembly of the laws setting up the regulatory agencies for free zones.

    “We are determined to make sure that our free zones succeed,” Umana assured Edu and the management team of Eko Support.

    “We will set up a committee to work with you and make sure all parties benefit and perform their roles,” he said.

  • OGFZA gets 35,000-hectare from Bayelsa for free zone project

    OGFZA gets 35,000-hectare from Bayelsa for free zone project

    The Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority’s (OGFZA) efforts to fulfil its  core mandate and play a key role in the Federal Government’s drive for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) received a major boost last week.

    Bayelsa State handed over to OGFZA state land measuring 35,000 hectares for the development of the Brass Oil and Gas City.

    Land to locate factories and offices is a key attraction to FDI in the free zones.

    The state’s Surveyor-General, Gede Moses, said a portion of the 35,000-hectare land had been surveyed and was ready for deployment.

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson declared that OGFZA can deploy the land resources the way it deems fit to accelerate the growth of free zones.

    Dickson was responding to a request for support from the Managing Director of OGFZA, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, who visited the governor at Yenegoa.

    Umana asked Dickson to support “OGFZA to execute its mandate of attracting investments to the free zones with allocation of land to the authority, backed with a certificate of occupancy” as a way of giving the investment agency “the capacity to effectively partner with investors”.

    The OGFZA’s boss hailed the government for its support to OGFZA over the years and described their relationship  as that of “natural partners in the development of the Southsouth region and our dear country”.

    Umana lauded the governor’s commitment to Bayelsa State’s growth.

    He said the Brass Oil and Gas City, to which $3.5 billion has been committed, was a major effort to improve the quality of lives of Nigerians and accelerate Southsouth region’s growth.

    Noting that the world has recognised free zones as engines of growth that have generated more than 42 million jobs in about 4,000 free zones globally, Umana called for “the abiding support of the Bayelsa State for OGFZA in its mandate as free zones regulator to inspire and sustain continuing confidence of the investment community”.

    The governor pledged his administration’s support for the projects but expressed concern that important aspects of the projects such as access road to Brass Oil and Gas City is beyond the capacity of the state and needs  federal’s intervention.

    Dickson congratulated Umana on his “well-deserved appointment” and lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for “making the right choice for the job of chief executive of OGFZA”.

    He described Umana’s visit to the Government House, as “highly symbolic because Bayelsa is the cradle of the oil and gas economy in Nigeria”.

  • OGFZA plans tariff cut for free zone investors

    Investors in the oil and gas free zones will soon enjoy payment of lower tariffs, it was learnt yesterday.

    This followed the beginning of a process of downward review of tariffs by the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA).

    Its Managing Director Mr. Umana Okon Umana spoke on the downward review during an interaction with investors in Onne, Rivers State, following complaints by licensed investors about high tariffs in the free zones.

    The licensees protested that the Industry Wide Standard Tariffs (IWST) being enforced in the free zones were negotiated and signed only by NAPIMS, Exxonmobil, Shell, Intels, Adax, NOAC, Total and Chevron without the input or involvement of other investors in the free zones.

    The investors argued that it was unfair to impose such tariff regime on everyone when the process that produced it was not inclusive.

    They called for all parties — including NAPIMS, OGFZA, the IOCs and other licensees — to go back to the drawing board and agree on a new tariff structure that will take care of the interest of the IOCs and other licensed investors in the free zones.

    Umana, who told the investors that their case deserved consideration, said the downward review of the statutory levies was necessary to justify the very of a free zone as an enclave where investors enjoy low cost and ease of doing business.

    He added that the difficult economic times also calls for a second look at the tariff regime in the free zones.

    He informed the investors of a meeting with the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Intels and other relevant stakeholders on a regime of tariffs that is fair to parties involved.

    Umana explained that the schedule of tariffs being implemented was approved by NAPIMS “without the input of the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority,” contrary to Section 25 of the Oil & Gas Free Zone Act Cap 05, LFN 2010 and section 11 and 39 (4) of the Oil & Gas Export Free Zone Regulations 2003.

    Section 11 of the Oil & Gas Export Free Zone Regulations 2003 states that “The Authority shall issue schedule of tariffs which shall apply in the Free Zone and which shall be reviewed from time to time and copies made available to the licensees or operators,” while section 32 (4) of the same regulation gives OGFZA the “right to review tariffs for operations in the Free Zone from time to time”.

    The proposed reduction in tariffs is one of the measures being taken by OGFZA to boost economic activities in the oil and gas free zones.

    Last month, OGFZA presented its strategic roadmap to transform its operations and a marketing brochure that unveiled a bouquet of incentives to free zone investors.