The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has pre-qualified six firms, and issued them with the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the concession of the Calabar and Kano Free Trade Zones (FTZs).

They are Diamond Stripes Consortium, BUA International Limited and Northwest Petroleum and Gas Company Limited for Calabar Free Trade Zone, and Diamond Stripes Consortium, Urban Shelter Infrastructure Limited and BUA International Limited for Kano Free Trade Zone.

In a statement, the BPE said that its Director General, Mr. Alex Okoh, has announced their pre-qualification at the bidders’ pre-bid conference for the concession of the two FTZs in Abuja on Monday.

Okoh said the bidders were expected to submit their proposals on or before December 2, 2022.

He said: “Thereafter, the technical proposals will be publicly opened the same day and evaluated subsequently. The bidders are also expected to submit, along with their proposals, the draft concession agreement that has been reviewed or tracked with each page signed or initialed.”

Okoh said that the pre-bid conference was a continuation of the federal government’s ongoing efforts to diversify the country’s economy and fast-track its industrialisation by unlocking the potential of the two FTZs.

This is with the aim of transforming them into world class facilities through the injection of private sector capital and technical capacity.

“Specifically, the purpose of this meeting is to engage with the prospective bidders, financing institutions and contractors, to elicit discussions and address key concerns with respect to the transactions. We also seek to use this event to provide clarifications on vital issues around the bid documents which we believe should allow bidders to better contextualize and understand the bidding process and prerequisites,” he added.

While stating the vital roles of FTZs to the economic growth and development of several countries in South-east Asia and southern America particularly China, India, Brazil and Mexico, including some African Countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, the director general noted that these countries have leveraged on SEZs to fast-track industrialisation, diversify their economies, create jobs, and generate foreign direct investments (FDIs).

However, he regretted that efforts to replicate the success of the FTZ model in Nigeria have not yielded the desired results, owing to many reasons, amongst which are deficient and obsolete infrastructure, over reliance on the treasury for funding, amongst others. (THISDAY)

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