The Chairman of Etsako East Local Government Council of Edo State, Mrs Benedicta Ebuehi, has expressed the commitment of the Council to develop and expand the jetty station at the River Niger in Agenebode and trailer park in Okpella in a bid to shore up its internally generated revenue and create employment.
She disclosed this at the weekend while explaining that the initiative became necessary owing to the dwindling revenue allocation to the councils, stressing that a tripartite arrangement under the Public Private Partnership (PPP), was underway to ensure that the projects are realised.
The Council boss who was accompanied by engineers from the council, said it had paid for the projects site in Agenebode and the 1000 hectares of land meant for trailers park in Okpella, expressing optimism that the two projects will definitely impact on the economy of the local government. “For us, in the local government, we want to get rid of the indiscriminate parking of trailers which causes gridlock and danger to lives along the highway by creating a modern park for them. We have acquired 1000 hectares of land in Okpella toward this. This will make our road safer and create revenue for the council by collecting parking fees.
“We are presently looking at partnering with the state government and core investors even though discussion is still at preliminary stages, we are certainly committed to taking advantage of these huge potential and opportunities”, she said.