The Ihu Special Economic Zone project in Gulf Province's Kikori District is presently in its second phase of development.
The second phase of the Ihu SEZ has been funded with a total of K10 million, according to Peter Kengemar, the project director.
He stated that for the first five years of phase two development, K20 million from the K100 million allocated by the National Executive Council was meant to be released each year, but owing to COVID-19, the funds have been scaled down to K10 million.
“Phase two basically involves land mobilisation, land investigations studies which involves the size of land we required to get the project in,” he said.
Mr Kengemar stated that they require two permissions to legally enter the project at the desired location: a land development permit and an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the environmental permit.
The site improvements program and SME training for Kikori residents are two more projects now in operation.
“Site improvements involves building infrastructures like roads, fixing airports, airstrips, building jetties, and other basic infrastructure development.
“We have registered almost three thousand people attending the SME training programs and workshops.
“We are working with the Department of Commerce and Industry to get them registered as a corporate societies which has been done,” Mr Kengemar said.
He explained that the goal is to train and upskill them in order to codify their business processes and prepare the team for the huge project.
The development of significant building infrastructure and the growth of industry are the two remaining phases (phases 3 and 4).
It will take 15 years to finish the project.
Reference: Wohi, Lorraine. Post-Courier (26 May 2022). “Iu Special Economic Zone Project Undergoes Phase Two Development”.
