Qua Iboe signs $1.1bn community development agreement with Akwa Ibom

Qua Iboe Power Plant Limited (QIPPL) has signed a Community Partnership Agreement (CPA) for community development in Akwa Ibom State. The execution of the (CPA) is a strategic initiative of QIPPL to proactively establish a positive relationship with neighboring communities in the state, and collaborate with them to identify and develop sustainable programs for accelerated socio-economic development.

The agreement will ensure the development of Akwa Ibom state in areas such as providing employment opportunities in the community, procurement and supply contracts and socio-economic development projects.

The communities to be developed included Ibeno (where the power plant is located), Eket, Esit-Eket, Mkpat-Enin, Onna and Ikot Abasi.

At the signing ceremony, Black Rhino Group CEO Brian Herlihy acknowledged Governor Emmanuel Udom for his support to the project’s commissioning and construction before the end of 2018. He also disclosed that the company is investing about $1.1bn in the QIPP project, adding that more than 12,000 people from Akwa Ibom would be employed during the construction of the project. ExxonMobil will also invest an additional $500m for gas.

Governor Udom, speaking at the event said; “I am always glad to be associated with something that will drive employment, provide the bases for industrialization and I think the QIPP is just one of them”.

Representatives of the project’s host communities, Chief Okut Inyang Etim Inyang for Ukpenekang, Local Government Area Ibeno and Pastor Bassey William Umoh representing the Eket Local Government Region expressed their delight for the QIPP project highlighting that the project will change the fortunes of their people.

“The economy of our people and those in the host communities will improve with the coming on stream of the QIPP project and because of the numerous multiplier effect of this project, we in the host communities have agreed to cooperate to ensure the project succeeds.

“More jobs will be created via the project in our communities and more businesses will spring up in our localities”, they stated. The QIPP project which is to be located in Ibeno when completed will ensure uninterrupted power supply in its immediate host communities of Eket, Ibeno, Esit Eket, Onna, Ikot Abasi and the entire Akwa Ibom State.