HON. OKANLAWON SUPERVICES NEW INDUSTRIAL PARK & RICE MILL AT IMOTA

HON. OKANLAWON SUPERVICES NEW INDUSTRIAL PARK & RICE MILL AT IMOTA

Unprecedented development is coming to *Imota Community* of Lagos State, this as awarded *Industrial Park and Rice Mill* by the government is 80% under completion. Thorough inspection led by the *Chairman House Committee on Industry, Commerce & Business -Hon. Sanni  Ganiyu Okanlawon,* recorded a great project under execution undertaken by CIBA Construction Company Limited.

The harmonized inspection team touchdown the large pillars of the new industrial site being located at Imota on Friday, 25th September, 2020 after long hours' drive from the State House of Assembly. This according to report by *Kosofe Media Team*.

Present during the special inspection includes; Chairman House Committee on Industry, Commerce & Business -Hon. Sanni  Ganiyu Okanlawon, Member of the Committee -Hon. Sylvester Ogunkelu, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Property -Doctor Bola Balogun, Director of Industry -Lekan Ogunbowale, Official Reporter to Committee -Folake Onyema, Mrs. Bakare Laolu, Managing Director of CIBA Construction Company Limited -Gboyega Odunlami, General Manager, Strategy & Communication for CIBA -Doc. Ade Adegbite, Project Manager of CIBA -Fuab Olafuye, Kosofe Media Team and Members of the Press. 

Managing Director of CIBA Construction Company Limited -Gboyega Odunlami gave an elaborate description of the entire facilities and sections of the Industrial Park and Rice Mill. It was an explanatory voyage in a long chat with the Supervisory Committee headed by Hon. Okanlawon and the Media. This he expantiated from sections to units; 

“The light industrial park was conceived in 2017 to provide light for light medium scale industrial activities and the site was originally programmed for 100 Units but we had to accommodate the Imota Rice. The entire site is 13mitres in which the Rice takes about 8mitres. We basically have the first phase of the light industrial park which has 20-units. Those 20-units are going to be used for different activities; Food and Beverage, Metal and Electrical Works, Chemicals and Plastics, Paper and Woods, Leather Works.”

“We also have the auxiliary services; Administrative Office, Restaurant, Clinic and Pharmacy and of course the Gate House. As shown in the map,  we have 20-units even though there is room for 48-units, so out of those 20-units we have 3 types of Units. Each unit has about 3084 Squaremettres but there is opportunity to split the units into either into 2 or 4.”

“So they have been designed like that and that came to place because we did research on different types of people who will relocate there; the people at Imatori, Yaba and Isolo. So they have different uses, we looked at then and the kind of spaces they use and we came up with a design that will accommodate floor spaces. So any vendor can pickup a space, pickup the entire unit or they can pick the unit that has half or a quad units with 4 different Vendors.”

“On the other facilities, we have; Water borehole for Supply, Fire Station which serves the whole industrial Park including the Rice Mil. There is also the process of expanding the Fire Station to reach parts of Imota and region.”

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Property -Doctor Bola Balogun gave further analysis on major advantages; 

“Industrialists around here should be in the Agro processing space, so that’s actually how the whole idea was conceived. So this is highly desirable now that we are trying to develop food security. Apart from that, dissociated services will also be located here. That is, the dissociated services will be Rice Mill to be in close proximity.

After a long inspection round the Industrial Park and Rice Mill, Hon. Okanlawon underlined great essence of the industry being localized in the new site. According to him, it is a stupendous execution working with the construction firm, CIBA; 

“The essence of our coming here is to inspect the Industrial Park as awarded by the government some years back. So the essence is to oversight, so see essentially what has been put in place. From what we have seen so far, I want to believe that the contractor has done a good job and from my assessment I can see that he has delivered up-to about 75 to 80%. So the essence of this Industrial Park is to bring entrepreneurs, the MSME’s into the hub, this is like a hub so they can enjoy the benefit and localization of Industry. Coming together they also enjoy in this hub, technologies and all that. This place is going to be powered by IPP and that presupposes that they will be enjoying 24/7 electricity and if you remove electricity from their challenges, you have removed 80% off their shoulders. So this will reduce operational cost of production,  what are we doing by so doing? we are stimulating the economy. So that is the basic essence. So I can say that CIBA being the construction firm has done a great job and we are enjoining them to speed up the activities so they can deliver in earnest.”

Hon. Okanlawon further stated how this will drive potential entrepreneurs and on the long-run crease GDP for Lagos State Government through paying of tax:

“The Rice Mill is occupying about 8.5hecters, while the industrial park is about 5.5hecters. They have b33n working I synergy, we are planning of bringing those in the Agro-allied sector into this Industrial Park so they can enjoy the benefit in the operational cost. So the essence is to stimulate the economy. What the government will also enjoy here is that their entrepreneurs will be signing to the banks which will urge them to pay tax to the government and that makes the government prosperous of course increasing the GDP of the State. 

Speaking on the level of materials being used by the construction company, Hon. Okanlawon attested they are of good quality;

“We have all seen it, I can attest to the quality of the materials. Before I can come to the public to say that, they have done a good job, it is crystal-clear the materials used here are of quality types.”