NIMASA perfects agreement to enable N50bn floating dockyard begin operations in March

The Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bashir Jamoh has the agency has perfected the arrangement to ensure that the over N50 billion floating dockyard acquired in 2018, begins operations before the end of the first quarter of 2022.

the director-general  made this known in in Lagos on Friday during a media parley to review the agency’s activities in the last one year.

Bashir added that the operations of the dockyard was partly delayed by the long process involved in the privatisation of government property.

He therefore said the floating dock will be handled through a public-private partnership arrangement and by the middle of February, NIMASA should be able to get the final ‘no objection’.

The dg further said by beginning operations, it is estimated that Nigeria will be saving about N36 billion loss to capital flight on yearly basis due to lack of dry-docking facilities as it costs between $300,000 and $500,000 to dry-dock a vessel in the international market, hence the need for more dry-docking facilities in-country.

Meanwhile, He said NIMASA has completed the process such that the DG of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) was at the NIMASA office recently to handover the approval certificate to the agency.