Enyimba Economic City project has received another boost as a renowned name in global financial management services, International Finance Corporation has signed an agreement with the project. IFC is to market the project to the world.
The company Secretary and Legal Adviser to the project, Chibuzo Ekwekwuo revealed this at Government House, Umuahia while making presentations to a group of Igbo economic professionals, Nzuko Umunna.
Ekwekwuo described then endorsement as a landmark in the project’s history and added that the endorsement indicates that EEC project has the potentialities of ranking among the top flight business deals in Africa.
He further noted that the project ranks as the single largest development project in the country ever captured in an public private partnership arrangement.
Ekwekwuo anchored his claim on the premise that the project is 100% private sector driven with a clearly defined shareholding structure of 50 Billion shares. 50% of the shares have already been subscribed while the remaining 50% will be publicly offered through an Initial Public Offer within the first five years of the commencement of construction.
According to him, some of the features of the project include an uninterrupted power at the City to be generated independently of the National Grid through the construction of a dedicated Power Plant in addition to the Power Purchase Agreement already signed with Geometric Power with guaranteed financing of 135 Million Dollars already in place by Chinese Textile Giants RUI Group.
The project is also expected to have its own private sector driven administrative agency to ensure first class service to its stakeholders.
IFC is an investment arm of the World Bank Group. The group possesses over 60 years experience in unlocking private investment, creating markets and opportunities where they are needed most and has leveraged over 2.6 Billion Dollars in Capital to deliver more than 285 Billion Dollars in business financing in developing countries.