Here is one of Soludo’s strategies to industrialise Anambra

After months of intensive brainstorming, planning, designing and forecasting, the international engineering firm, Artelia Consulting Engineers Ltd (formerly Mahindra Consulting Engineers Ltd), presented the feasibility report and masterplan of the Anambra Mixed-Use Industrial City (AMIC) to the Anambra State Executive Council (ANSEC).

And over the last week, Artelia Consulting Engineers Ltd and representatives of Anambra State Government presented AMIC’s draft masterplan to Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority. There are other high-level engagements going on at the moment.

AMIC will be located in the Orumba North District of Anambra on a 4,000-hectare of land. AMIC will be developed for the manufacturing of industrial components. It will have agro and food processing plants, pharmaceutical manufacturing industries, automobile assembly plants, textile industries and various manufacturing outfits with state-of-the-art infrastructure in order to attract and support investments. AMIC will have a residential zone and an export emporium in its complex. In fact, the industrial scale facilities required for the beneficiation of the mineral resources of Anambra – such as limestone, baryte, lead, gold, kaolin, lignite, garnet, pyrite, coal and clay – will be available in AMIC.

AMIC is designed to have state-of-the-art infrastructure. These include well planned roads, power infrastructure, reticulated water supply system, sewage treatment plants and communication infrastructure powered by fiber optic systems. AMIC is designed to be a sustainable, eco-industrial and smart city.

The investment in AMIC will be private sector driven with Anambra State providing basic elements required to attract these investments. With AMIC, the gross domestic product of Anambra State can never be the same. The investment by the private sector in AMIC is anticipated to be in excess of $2 billion.

Thousands of well-paid jobs will be created in AMIC. With AMIC, the research and development (R&D) ecosystem of Anambra State is expected to flourish. And with a strong R&D ecosystem, other developments are expected to come naturally.

Currently, the Anambra State Government is concluding the paperwork with NEPZA to have free trade zones -i.e. export processing zones (EPZs) – in AMIC. It is anticipated that having various industries in AMIC’s free trade zones will help boost Anambra’s economic growth and exports. Since a company does not need an import or export license if established in a free trade zone and can also sell 25% of its overall output into Nigeria by acquiring legitimate permission, companies in AMIC will not only boost Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings, they will also manufacture goods to meet local demands.

Linking AMIC to major markets and export enabling infrastructure has also been planned for. The Anambra’s rail masterplan – which has almost been completed – presents an alignment connecting AMIC to major cities in Anambra and to the Onitsha River Port. The plan is to make it easy to move goods from AMIC to the rest of the country and outside Nigeria.

There is a massive plan for power generation in AMIC. It is estimated that AMIC would require over 90MW of power. The bulk of this energy would be provided by a solar farm that would be located in AMIC.

The development of AMIC is in line with Anambra’s Vision 2070 Plan. AMIC will not be the only new city to be built in Anambra in the coming years. There will be a new Awka City and new Onitsha City (the master plan for the new Awka City is almost complete). In fact, there is an urban regeneration plan for Anambra. The plan is simple: while Anambra tries to remodel its existing cities, new and well-planned ones would be built concurrently.

All these big plans are in line with Governor Soludo’s manifesto – the People’s Manifesto.

But there are various risks to these investments and Governor Soludo, an economist and a former central banker, is aware of these risks. There are political and economic risks to these ambitious plans. To address these risks, appropriate mitigation plans have been made.

Over the past 24 months, the planning for AMIC had been rigorous. The engineering consultants, who have worked on AMIC’s masterplan, have put in significant man-hours. And of course, lessons learnt from other free trade zones in Nigeria was helpful in the feasibility study carried out on AMIC. (The case studies of the following projects were helpful in conceptualizing AMIC: Lekki Free Trade Zone, Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone, Enugu Industrial Park Free Zone -Lions Business Park, Nigeria International Commerce City -Eko Atlantic and Kaduna Green Economic Zone).

In the coming months, preliminary construction work is expected to start at AMIC. Anambra State Government will be bullish in terms of developing AMIC.

The vision to make Anambra a prosperous mega-city requires the concerted effort of every resident of Anambra. It is not going to be easy because nothing good comes easy but with Governor Soludo’s determination to change the economy of Anambra, the future is bright. As well-meaning Ndi Anambra, it is in our best interest to support Governor Soludo.

Nwankwo is the special adviser on special projects to Soludo