From Stanley Uzoaru Owerri
Governor Hope Uzodimma has kicked off the Orashi Energy Free Trade Zone in Mmahu and Abacheke communities in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area, calling for cooperation from the host communities.
Addressing the community leaders on the project at the weekend, the immediate past Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah, who led a team set up by Governor Uzodimma during a town hall meeting at Mmahu informed the leaders reasons for siting the project in their communities.
Opiah disclosed that the Free Trade Zone located in their communities would bring industrialization and boost economic activities.
He said: “We are here today to inform the communities that the government is about to begin the implementation of the Orashi Energy Free Trade Zone, which the governor last year promised he would do. The project will be sited in Mmahu and Abacheke communities, and we are here to seek your cooperation.
“You may recall that the governor came up with this lofty project during his first term, and he has the burning desire to actualise the project in his second term. The governor had a lot in his plans, but faced with challenges.
“The benefits from this project will be innumerable. Apart from launching the communities into a new realm of unprecedented economic activities, the host communities will now be on the map of Nigeria as places that have developed.
“Ships will come in and leave because of the Oguta Lake and Orashi River sea route to the Atlantic Ocean, and we will no longer struggle to transport our agricultural produce or struggle to find markets for them. With time, import and export will be taken for granted, and we will see great wealth in our communities and Imo State in general.”
On his part, the Surveyor General of Imo State, Surveyor Bob Uzodimma, who is also a member of the committee, thanked the communities for their enthusiasm and cooperation with the committee so far, adding that the project would bring development to the area.